Second Glance
by IceDragonMist
Summary: Natsuki has been feeling lonely since Shizuru has been coming home late from school. But as of late she had been struggling with feelings for a new found friend. Who will Natsuki choose? Find out FINAL CHAP UP! Pairings NatNaoXShizNat
1. Let's Play Nice

_It's been a few months now after The Festival…__taking place after those few months everything at Fuuka Academy has been returning to normal. All that is in the past now__;__ everything that has happened, secret lovers and rivals were reviled…__but now those rivals have become nothing more than great friends and secret lovers are no longer a secret. It was now a typical simple day at Fuuka Academy and although things have changed, other things rather people remain the same. Fuuka Academy's Ice Princess Natsuki Kuga was lazing about cutting class once again…_

Natsuki laid flat on her back on her jacket, with her legs crossed over the other and her hands cradling the back of her head. She inhaled the smell of the freshly cut grass as a cool breeze passed by. She was calm and tranquil as she shut her eyes enjoying the peaceful, quiet surroundings.

"Today sure is beautiful. Finally got some peace and quiet… I wonder though, if Shizuru will be home late again tonight. I miss having her here, although we live together now I feel like we see less of each other." Natsuki uncrossed her legs and removed hands from the back of her head and rolled over onto her left side.

"I know she's in college now so I get that's going to take up most of her time… but even so. I wish… she… was… here…" Without her realizing it Natsuki had slowly drifted off to sleep. But her slumber didn't last long when someone came over to awaken her a few moments later.

"Kuga! Hey Kuga! Wake up! You're so lazy you know that?" The girl stepped up a little closer to Natsuki and knelt down next to her. She put her hand on Natsuki's shoulder and shook her back and forth gently.

"Hey, hey. Come on get up… you're gonna get in trouble again you know." She said in a soft toned voice. Natsuki then began to open up her eyes very slowly. She squinted as the glare from the sun caught her eyes, so she wasn't able to see exactly whom it was trying to wake her.

"Shi... zuru?" Those were the first words to come out of Natsuki's mouth. She knew it wasn't really Shizuru coming to wake her… but only wished it was. She figured if she had called out Shizuru's name it would have be real. That she would've really been there. The girl who had her hand on Natsuki's shoulder suddenly squeezed her shoulder very hard.

"Ow! OW! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!? DO I LOOK LIKE THAT WOMAN TO YOU!?" The girl shouted at Natsuki while releasing her grip of Natsuki's shoulder. Natsuki sat up quickly rubbing her right shoulder. She gave the girl a cold stare.

"Don't look at me like that; you have no right to be angry. If anything I'm the only one who should be angry… how dare you insult me like that!" Natsuki looked away from her and grumbled.

"What was that?"

"I said I'm sorry… I'm sorry Nao."

"Kuga… I'm sorry. I probably hurt you didn't I?" Natsuki turned her head and saw a look of sadness and disappointment on Nao's face. Natsuki couldn't help but giggle.

"What? What's so funny?" Nao asked sounding agitated at that moment.

"You! And that face of yours! AND I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE APOLOGIZING! "

"Cut it out Kuga! You're being a jerk! I really hate you!" Nao huffed as she stood up and started to walk away. Natsuki quickly got up grabbing her jacket and ran after Nao.

"Nao come on wait up! Hey why did you come and get me anyways? Nao are you listen— Natsuki had to stop short as she was right behind Nao who suddenly came to a halt. She turned around to face Natsuki; she glared at her with such intensity that Natsuki felt a shock run up and down her spine.

(Oh man if looks really can kill…)

"Nao? Did I do or say something wrong?" Nao just continued to stare at Natsuki. She couldn't help but wonder what exactly she said or even did to make Nao act this way.

"You're an idiot Kuga."

"What?"

"Idiot. I-D-I-O-T"

"I know how to spell it! But why are you callin' me an idiot?" Nao shut her eyes as she shook and lowered her head. She let out a sigh and started to walk away from Natsuki again, she wove her hand at the older girl.

"Come on Kuga. You have to take me home." Natsuki stood there dumbfounded. Her jaw dropped, she ran up quickly to Nao's side. Natsuki walked along side Nao staring at her with a very angered look in her eyes. Nao glanced over and noticed this.

"Stop starting. You're creepin' me out."

"Grrr! This is the fourth time this week! You know I'm not your damn chauffer! Why the hell do I gotta take you home all the time?"

". . ."

"Well!?"

". . ."

"Nao!" Natsuki grabbed Nao by the arm stopping her and pulling her back. Natsuki held her by both her arms looking straight into her eyes. Nao just stared back.

"Nao… (Sighs) please tell me what's up? I mean I was really hoping to get home early."

"Why? Not like you have to hurry home and do homework… since you missed all your classes again today. I thought you changed Kuga."

"What does that have to do with anything!?" Natsuki suddenly blurted out. She sounded as if she had just been insulted.

"Can't you just take me home first; it's on your way home too. It's why I ask you all the time and besides you're the only person I know who has transportation." Natsuki was feeling a bit irritated as her eyebrow began to twitch.

"Well… what if I didn't have my bike today? Then what?" Nao looked up at Natsuki and smirked.

"Well… you would just have to give me a piggy back ride."

"ACK! NO FREAKIN' WAY I WOULD EVER DO THAT!"

"_You would for her…__I bet." _Nao said that in such a low tone of voice almost as if she didn't maybe want Natsuki to hear. Natsuki looked at Nao whose face turned to confusion.

"What was that you said Nao?" Nao shook her head.

"Nothing, can you take me home now… please?" Natsuki sighed heavily as she let go of Nao. She nodded in agreement to take her home finally, and Nao seemed very pleased that she finally got her way as a huge smile appeared onto her face. The two walked side by side all the way to Natsuki's bike. Natsuki got on first and Nao got on soon after, Natsuki handed her the helmet to wear.

"Hey wait… you know you do this every day."

"Hmm? Do what?" Natsuki asked as she started up the engine.

"You always give me your only helmet. You should get another you know… it's safe."

"Since when do you worry about safety? And besides I have a pretty hard head… remember?" Nao clutched the helmet and cringed as she knew what Natsuki was speaking of. Natsuki looked over her shoulder at Nao.

"Listen… forget it… it was a long time ago. And… I'll look into getting' another helmet. Hey Nao you were wrong you know. I may have not changed much… but you sure have." Nao's ears perked up. She couldn't believe Natsuki would even say something like that seeing as how they were downright enemies at one point.

"I like _this_ new Nao… the old one had a bad attitude… and was very aggressive if she didn't get her way. But she wasn't all that different from who I was. The best part is we now know that we could be civil to each other, and that we can be friends." Natsuki half smiled at Nao before turning her head forward. Natsuki revved up the engine, but suddenly felt something going over her head. She heard a popping sound as what was over her head was soon covering her whole head.

"Hey! Nao! What the—

"Shut up Kuga." Nao wrapped her arms tightly around Natsuki's waist and pressed her body up against Natsuki's back.

"That helmets too big. It can only fit your massively large head. I'll wait till you get another. Okay?" Nao couldn't see it and Natsuki would never tell, but just then as Nao said that Natsuki had the hugest smile on her face that she had ever had before. Natsuki revved up her engine again and took off at a blinding speed.


	2. Hang In There

"Hey Kuga! Get up!" Nao shouted and hit an innocent Natsuki who was simply minding her own business lying down on the cool grass, in her usual spot. Nao had hit Natsuki square on the head with a book. Leaving a big red mark on her forehead.

"OWW! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR!" Natsuki shouted back as she sprung up in a sitting position with both hands on her forehead. But Nao didn't answer her; instead she just sighed and crossed her arms. Natsuki peeked out between her fingers from the corner of her eye and stared up at the fiery redhead.

"Well!" Natsuki growled.

"Well, what?"

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU HIT ME FOR?" Natsuki stood up and grabbed Nao by the collar of her shirt.

Nao looked away and pointed at Natsuki's hands. A strained look grew on Natsuki's face as she tightened her grip on Nao's collar.

"Do you mind? Would you let go please?" Nao said in a calming voice. Natsuki released her grip on Nao's collar.

"You have some nerve. Grabbing me like that. You're such a barbarian Kuga."

"What! Well how about you! Hitting me in the face like that so unexpectedly!" Nao finally looked at Natsuki straight in her eyes, glaring at her.

"Would you lower your voice? I swear you were raised by wolves or something."

"Excuse me for getting angry, but I guess its normal for others to hit people on their heads with random objects where you come from!" Natsuki yelled sounded very irritated while rubbing her forehead.

"You're an idiot Kuga."

"ME? YOU SMACKED ME IN THE HEAD WITH A DAMN BOOK!"

"I was only trying to wake you up." Natsuki's eyes widened. She had a very shocked look about her face being taking aback but Nao's blunt answer.

"Are you insane! Wait… Don't answer that."

"You know you're really being… Listen like I said I was waking you up.

"Grrr! I wasn't even sleeping I was wide awake!" Nao raised an eyebrow.

"Really? That's strange. I called your name but you didn't answer."

"Y-you… called out my name?" Nao nodded. Natsuki sighed and rubbed the back of her head. She was feeling really embarrassed right then after yelling like a maniac at Nao.

"I'm sorry Nao. I swear I didn't hear you. But I was awake."

"No, I'm sorry… but you did have that goofy look on your face. So I only assumed you were sleeping."

"Goofy! Hey wait just a min—

"Natsuki you were thinking about something weren't you." Natsuki and Nao both stared at each other silently for a few moments.

"You were thinking about her. Fujino… Right?" Natsuki looked down on the ground as she gritted her teeth.

"No I wasn't."

"That's a lie. What happened? Trouble in paradise?" Natsuki swiftly picked her head up and gave Nao an icy cold stare.

"That's none of your damn business." She stated very harshly at Nao. Before the two could continue their conversation, they were interrupted by a familiar pair of friends.

"Hey you two! Good morning!" Nao greeted the two with a smile while Natsuki's eyes were glued to Nao. She couldn't help but still be angry with her for butting into her personal life. Natsuki was too focused on Nao that she didn't even notice that her friend was waving her hands in front of her face.

"Natsuki, Natsuki! Hello? Anyone in there?"

"Mai! Mai I'm sorry I was just—

"Just staring at Nao?" Mai smiled while Natsuki's cheeks lit up a pale pink.

"That's not! I mean… listen I wasn't…" Natsuki gave up, knowing she couldn't find words to defend herself to Mai. Mai walked over closer to Natsuki putting her hand on her shoulder.

"You need to relax I was just kidding."

"I know but…" Natsuki's eyes traveled back at Nao who was happily chatting with Mikoto. Mai took notice of this and, had already figured out that she and Mikoto had interrupted whatever it was they had been talking about.

"Natsuki?"

"Yeah?" Natsuki spoke softly still staring at Nao.

"Should I and Mikoto leave?"

"No why?"

"Well, I could tell you and Nao were in the middle of something." Natsuki shook her head.

"No forget it. It's not important." She said looking back at Mai weakly smiling. Nao looked over at Natsuki but quickly turned her attention back to Mikoto.

"Hey, why don't we get something to eat? I'll buy." Nao said smiling.

"Really Nao? You mean it?"

"Sure." Mikoto's smile grew wider as did her eyes. She then called out to both Mai and Natsuki.

"Hey! Come on guys! Nao said she's buying lunch!"

"Hey wait a minute! I didn't say for everyone!" Nao quickly shouted. Mai giggled.

"You two go on ahead, we'll catch up." Mikoto nodded as she begun to pull Nao along with her in the other direction to go get food.

"They've become really great friends. So have you and Nao."

"Yeah…"

"Nao and you have gotten closer too I've noticed."

"She's… changed." Natsuki said as she knelt down to pick up her jacket and book bag.

"You both have. But what's really going on? I know me and Mikoto busted in on something important." Natsuki shook her head as she put on her jacket.

"It was nothing… I told you." Natsuki stated. Mai got closer to Natsuki, just close enough that their noses were inches away. Natsuki felt her face heat up a bit.

"M-Mai! What are you doing!" Natsuki said in a panicked voice.

"Well it's just… you have a red spot on your forehead." Mai said stretching out her finger ready to touch the mark on Natsuki's head. Natsuki pushed Mai back a little and covered her forehead.

"No! Don't touch it, it still hurts a little."

"How did you even get that?"

"That so called friend of mine did this!" She shouted pointing to the red mark on her forehead.

"Did you and Nao have a fight?" Natsuki shook her head furiously.

"NO! I was laying down minding my own business and she comes up and whacks me on the head with a book! She's insane! Nao said I had a goofy look on my face." Mai burst into laughter. She couldn't contain herself although she did try to hold it back. Natsuki clenched her fists.

"What's funny!"

"Your goofy face! HAHAHAHA!"

"I don't have a goofy face!"

"Yeah you do, you do! You're making one right now!" Natsuki grew angry and stormed off in the direction Mikoto and Nao had went off in. Mai still laughing was trying to catch up with Natsuki. They soon met up with Mikoto and Nao; sitting at the same table as them Mai was still cracking up but was starting to calm down. After they had ate it was time to go back to their classes, they all said their goodbye's to each other and went their separate ways. As soon as all her classes were over Natsuki rushed out of the school building hurrying to her bike.

She seemed very happy her attitude had changed gradually. While in one of her classes she had gotten a text message from Shizuru saying that she will be home early.  
No doubt Natsuki was very thrilled to receive the good news; she got to her bike hopped on and placed her helmet on. But before she even started up her motorcycle she heard a voice call out to her. That voice made Natsuki cringe slightly. (So close, so close!)

"Kuga! Hey Kuga!" Natsuki took off her helmet.

"YOU KNOW I HAVE A FIRST NAME!"

"I like calling you Kuga… so sue me."

"What is it Nao… I'm in a rush."

"So I see. What's the rush?" Nao said placing her hands on her hips. Natsuki just smiled.

"Shizuru is coming home early. So I wanna be there waiting for her."

"You're an idiot Kuga you just really proved it now."

"Excuse me!" Natsuki shouted angrily.

"Don't you see that's what she wants; you waiting there like an obedient dog." Natsuki got off from her bike and walked closely up to Nao, getting in her face.

"You wanna run that by me again?"

"No." Nao said bluntly.

"Why you little—

"Take me home okay." Nao said walking passed Natsuki and getting onto the back of the bike. Natsuki stood there dumbfounded. She walked over to her bike where Nao was just sitting acting as if nothing happened. (I guess… it wouldn't hurt. I don't wanna waste anymore time.)

Natsuki took in a deep breath and let it out. She hopped back onto her bike and placed her helmet on her head. She started up the bike and revved it a few times.

"You know Nao… this is the last time. I mean it." Nao placed her arms around Natsuki's waist.

"You said that last time too. It's just a ride home besides it's on your way home too." Nao wrapped her arms fully around Natsuki's torso and rested her head on Natsuki's back.

"_I wonder if things were different…__would you do that for me."_

"What did you say Nao?"

"I said… I said sorry Natsuki. I'm sorry I hit you earlier, it won't happen again." Natsuki's face softened as she sighed.

"You know Nao… you're alright, most days. But thanks and its okay no damage was done." With that Natsuki turned her head forward and sped off with Nao, who was slightly blushing.


	3. Between Then and Now

_It was another beautiful day at Fuuka Academy. It was lunch time now, and Mai had invited Natsuki to join her for lunch but unaware to Natsuki, Mai had other intentions besides sitting down with her friend to enjoy a meal together. In fact Mai had noticed something of late about Natsuki and her close relationship with a certain someone… so being the nosey person Mai was (although she means well) she wanted to get to the bottom of things._

"Natsuki…?"

"Hm? What's up?" Natsuki had asked while stuffing a rice ball into her mouth.

"You seem to be in a really good mood today. You're practically glowing." Mai had leaned over the table a bit getting a closer look at Natsuki's face, who at the moment was still stuffing her face. Natsuki blushed a little bit as the red head was invading her friend's personal space.

"Hey Mai! What the hell! Do you mind? What's wrong with you!" Natsuki slammed her fist hard on the table as she snapped at Mai. The other students turned and looked in Mai and Natsuki's direction, Natsuki coldly glared back at them. They all quickly turned away; Natsuki wasn't called the Ice Princess for nothing.

"Geez, Mai. What the hell was that about? Huh? You're really starting to freak me out." Natsuki sat back in her chair and closed her eyes. Mai let out a small laugh.

"I'm sorry Natsuki. It's just… you have a glow about you. It's rather strange to see you like that and the fact that you've been in such a good mood lately. So… what's changed?"

"Nothing. Everything's the same as always. Well…." A huge smile grew on Mai's face as she got ready for Natsuki to tell her why she's been so happy lately.

"Well you know, Shizuru hasn't been home that much, but last night she finally got to come home early for a change." Right then Natsuki's cheeks turned a light shade of pink.

(Natsuki is blushing? She looks kind of cute… hmm.)

"Well it's just… let's just say Shizuru and I were able to catch up on a few things." Natsuki smiled as her face slightly turned red.

"Oh I see. So you two…" Mai blushed. Realizing what she was about to say. She stopped herself and got down to what she really wanted to know.

"Ahem! Yes well that's all good then!"

"Mai… you're blushing." Natsuki smirked.

"S-shut up! Listen! Well anyway I'm happy for you but I could've sworn you were happy for another reason. Shoot I could have swore I was right about it too."

"Hm? Right about what?"

"You weren't happy like this, this whole time just cause' of last night. No I'm sure of it. Natsuki think carefully." Natsuki nodded while starting to devour another rice ball.

"Could it be that maybe you've been happy… rather something or someone has been filling that void of you missing Shizuru? Was something or someone else making you this happy?" Natsuki shook her head.

"Think really, really hard. Maybe a certain someone?" Natsuki shrugged her shoulders. Mai heavily sighed.

"Okay. Can it be possibly? Now bare with me here. That Nao Yuuki has been making you happy?" Natsuki started to choke on her food the moment Mai had finished that sentence. Mai quickly got up from her seat and hit Natsuki on her back. She didn't want her friend choking to death, at least not until she found out if what she said was true. After a few second of Mai pounding on her back Natsuki was able to swallow her food and catch her breath.

"Natsuki! Natsuki! Are you going to be alright! I thought you were going to die for a second there."

"I WOULD HAVE! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO ALMOST KILLED ME!"

"What!" Shouted a very shocked Mai. She felt like she had just gotten slapped in the face.

"Are you insane! How could Nao make me happy! She such a nuisance, all she does is use and abuses me! I'm treated no different from the way she treated those guys!"

"Um… Natsuki…"

"And she does the same thing to me every day! She hits me with some object or anything hard she can get her hands on and tells me to take her home like I'm her personal driver! She such a spoiled brat!"

"Natsuki…" Mai tried to interrupt her hot headed friend but Natsuki just continued on.

"And once I give her a ride home she acts all sweet and innocent! Yeah okay she's changed maybe a little bit. She's not as nasty or rude as she used to be but Mai; all she does is beat me up basically and demands that I give her rides to wherever she wants! So really how you can say that Nao Yuuki is the one making me happy when all she's doing is making me nuts! I really wish that sometimes she would leave me alone!"

"Natsuki! That's enough!" Mai scolded Natsuki as if she was her child or Mikoto for that matter. Natsuki's angered face soon turned to confusion as to why Mai yelled at her the way she did. She quickly noticed Mai's eyes drifted off to the side looking directly behind Natsuki. Natsuki followed Mai's eyes, Natsuki looked over her shoulder. Her face fell as soon as she saw who was behind her.

"N-Nao…" Natsuki fully turned about. Nao weakly smiled at her.

"So Kuga I'm a nuisance? No problem… I can… find my own way home. I don't need you either." Nao said in a choked voice. It was hard for her to even get those words out, as she held back tears.

"Why didn't you tell me she was standing there?" Natsuki asked Mai through gritted teeth.

"What are you going to blame me now for your big mouth? I was trying to make you stop, before you made a fool outta yourself… but you did it again. You don't know when to stop do you?"

"You should have just told me she was behind me Mai."

"And you should have kept your mouth shut. How can you be so stupid? Why would you even say those hurtful things? I know you really didn't mean all those things you said about her."

"Next time just put your hand over my mouth before I say anything else stupid." Natsuki said to Mai before taking off at a blinding speed racing in the direction Nao ran off in. Natsuki ran on the dirt path road thinking she would be able to catch up to Nao, but as soon as she came to the cross roads she knew there wasn't a chance now. Natsuki headed to the chapel first, only to walk into a very empty chapel. She then tried over by the kendo dojo; she even tried the main hall of the Academy. But no luck; so she went over to the garden since it was the last place she could think of where Nao would have ran off too.  
When she got all she saw was an empty field of flowers. She walked over to the stone arches and sat down on the steps. She was feeling really awful and really guilty for what she had said. Natsuki proved to herself that she was a real idiot. Natsuki leaned up against the stone arch and began to curse herself for her own stupidity.

"Nao's right… I am an idiot. Of all the times she's called me one, now would be the perfect example. I mean what the hell was I thinking! How could I have said that! I know I was angry with Mai just then but… to say all those things about Nao… what's wrong with me? Nao isn't bad at all… yeah I wish she would stop hitting me but, I love her company. She does make me smile in a weird way; she's there to help take my mind off Shizuru once in a while. I guess I've become too sappy." Natsuki sighed and slumped up against the arch.

"Man, I'm really the bad guy here. It really sucks now. How can I apologize to her… when I can't even find her? Seriously what got into me back there, it's like I have schizophrenia or something." Natsuki buried her face into her hands as she mentally yelled at herself for being so careless and inconsiderate. She hadn't realized how much words can hurt until she caught a glimpse of Nao's reaction.

(She… was about to cry. I hurt her so much. Dammit I'm such a freaking moron! Why! Why did I even say those things! Did I really get that angry about Mai's assumption of me and Nao?)

"Nao… I'm so sorry. I didn't mean all those things I said… I really didn't. I don't why I snapped like that." Natsuki's words were muffled from hiding her face in her hands.

"Was I so ashamed to tell Mai… that I really am happy when Nao's is with me? Dammit! I'm such an idiot!"

"You're just now realizing that you're an idiot Kuga?" Natsuki quickly looked up. A sadden Nao stood before her, Nao's eyes looked a little red from her crying. Natsuki stood up but was unable to look at Nao so instead she looked down at the ground.

"Nao… I'm really—

"Shut up. You think I care what you think? I don't care about you Kuga, and I don't care about what you said. It was the truth… you're ashamed of me and the way I treat you… I get it." Nao said in a painful voice. Natsuki picked her head up.

"That's not true at all! Dammit Nao I don't know why I said that! I'm sorry! I guess I was afraid or something and I didn't know you were standing there."

"Does it matter? Whether I was standing there or not you still would have said those words."

". . ."

"So you really are ashamed of me. Maybe you should have let that woman finish me off." Natsuki's mouth hung open. She grabbed onto Nao's shoulders.

"What are you saying! Don't say stupid stuff like that!"

"It's true! It would've been better off if you'd have let her kill me! Why did you stand in the way? If I were dead now I wouldn't be in the way! I wouldn't be such a bother to you then."

"Stop it! Don't say that now."

"It's true. I do treat you horribly don't I? If I were dead you wouldn't have to put up with me. I still don't get why you stood in the way like that for me. You hardly knew me… we barely knew each other. And because of… because of me that whole battle started." Natsuki franticly shook her head and pulled Nao closer to her.

"Stop it! That has nothing to do with what I said. That was a long time ago none of that matters anymore. Besides everything's changed and we know each other now and we're friends now." Nao looked up into Natsuki's eyes.

"Are we? Are we really friends?" Natsuki nodded.

"Nao we are really great friends now. About what I said… I think maybe I was embarrassed. And I shouldn't be…"

"What am I to you Natsuki?"

"What?"

"You say I'm just a friend… is that all I am to you?"

"How do you mean?"

"Like I said before, we didn't really know each other and we never talked. In fact if we didn't know anything about the HiME's then we wouldn't be standing here talking right now. The truth is… if I didn't start the whole battle then we wouldn't be here. It's my fault it's my entire fault. So I understand why you'd still hate me Natsuki." Natsuki's hand slid off of Nao's shoulders. Her mouth hung open and her eyes widened.

"Nao… you just… you just said my name!" Nao's face turned beet red.

"Shut up Kuga! I said no such thing! See this is what I mean your head is so filled up with your ego that you can't even pay attention to what I'm saying!"

"But Nao—

"Just shut up! Just shut up! Why didn't you let her kill me! Huh?" Nao started to cry but she tried so hard to hold back her tears. She couldn't believe she was crying like this for the first time in a long time. Nao didn't want Natsuki to see her cry, letting her think she was upset because of Natsuki's hurtful words but in truth that's exactly what it was. But there was more to it.  
Natsuki put her hand on Nao's shoulder and put her hands on either side of Nao's face and wiped away her tears with her thumbs, she kept her hands on Nao face as she began speaking again.

"Because of what I said… you started thinking about that day again. I told you to forget it but you never listen. That was one of your problems Nao, you never listened to anyone. You need to stop that foolish thinking and forget what's happened… it's passed now."

"Get your filthy hands off me!" Nao smacked Natsuki's hands away and took a step back.

"Don't act like you care about me, you never cared about me. So stop putting on this show of yours."

"Nao I do care about you! Why do you think I came looking for?"

"So that you can make yourself feel better! If you apologized to me for saying those words then you wouldn't feel any guilt! That's why! So stop acting like you care!"

"Do you even know how I feel! Dammit Nao I've always cared about you! Why do you think I risked my life for you!"

". . ." Nao had a look of shock about her face. She couldn't believe her ears just then.

"I know you're angry with me right now because of what I stupidly said back there. I hate myself for it. But I also know that I wouldn't be here now and did what I did back then if I didn't care about you at all! Nao… even though you think what happened was your fault, and even though we only started to really know each other, I knew you from the start because you were no different than I was. And right now we're still the same."

"B-but I started that battle with you… and because of it, everything after was set in motion because of me."

"No! You're wrong! It's only because you were tricked and manipulated by that weasel Nagi! I wanted to kill him so badly you have no idea! He made you turn against us… so what happened wasn't your fault!"

"But I hurt you! I hurt you so much! That's why you should've let me die!" Natsuki grabbed a hold of Nao again.

"Listen to me dammit! Stop it already! If you had died that wouldn't have solved anything… but because of what you did, when you fought me... you set in motion the truth in everyone's heart that day. No more secrets no more lies it was all out in the open because of you Nao. You did something good without even realizing it."

"No!" Nao tried to push Natsuki back but she just held on that much tighter to her.

"Kuga I hurt you! Why are you saying this? Because of me that woman—

"Stop it! You did nothing wrong. Don't you see? If you never started that battle we would probably still be in the same position… hiding our true selves. Nao that day I realized so much about everything especially about myself. It's why I wouldn't let Shizuru kill you!" Nao's body began to relax as she heard Natsuki explaining the events of that fateful night.

"When we were there on the rooftop… you asked why I had stepped in front of you. I said because we were the same… that wasn't exactly true." Nao lowered her head.

"You did it for her. I remember now… because right after you said that to me you said…"You should have realized it sooner… your important person was…" It's why you stepped in front of me, not to save me like you're trying to claim but because of Fujino."

"Dammit Nao let me finish! You still don't get it do you? Just a few minutes ago whether you were standing behind me or not, I still would have said something stupid about you to Mai or anyone who asked. Only to deny what's really the truth I didn't what this to be brought up again. But what happened just before is the same thing as to what happened on that rooftop… I didn't want you to know, and I didn't want to push Shizuru any further."

Nao felt her heart racing as Natsuki pulled her closer, close enough that she could feel Natsuki's breath on her skin. Nao didn't know how to react as she felt sacred but happy at the same time, what she was feeling at the moment was hard to describe.

"Nao… I was scared. And I couldn't finish what I wanted to say back then, but I could do it now. When I said I should have realized sooner who my important person was… I wasn't talking about Shizuru. I was talking about you…"


	4. Falling into Place

"She ran away…"

"What do you mean she ran away?"

"Just like I said she ran away!"

"But… how?"

"Uh geez! I don't know Mai. She stomped on my foot and I let her go and she ran away. What don't you get about that?"

"No no I get that. But why didn't you go after her?" Natsuki snarled. She had been explaining what had happened between her and Nao the other day and what was said. Apparently Mai thinks Natsuki should have explained the issue further, but knowing how stubborn she is she knew it wouldn't be easy.

"Natsuki, but what did you say to her exactly?" Natsuki sat at a nearby table. She pulled the chair away from the table and sat in it crossing her arms and legs.

"Dammit Mai you know what I said." Mai shook her head as she sat in the chair opposite from her hot-headed friend.

"No really I don't. All you've told me so far is that you admitted to her that she was the one who was more important to you."

"Yes. And?"

"Well what I want to know is… how?" Natsuki slumped over and rested her elbows onto the table, covering her face into her hands.

"Mai… you are really starting to piss me off." Natsuki stated through muffled words.

"Okay okay. I meant how as in… how was she more important to you than Shizuru was… or should I say is?" Natsuki lifted her head from her hands and gave Mai a questionable look.

"What's that supposed to mean Mai?"

"The way I remember you had clearly stated that Shizuru was your most important person."

"Go on." Natsuki said sitting upright in her chair, crossing her arms once again.

"And you two even faded together as you had told me. Because you were important to Shizuru and she was important to you."

"Mai, where are you going with this?" Mai smirked.

"My question to you is… how can you claim that Nao was your important person when the one closest to your heart was Shizuru? Was it… is it possible to have two important people in your heart?"

"Ah… well…" Natsuki cocked her head to the side. She fell silent for a while before she actually spoke another word.

"No it isn't possible. Take you and Tate for example." Mai's face flared up. Turning a very bright red; almost matching the color of her hair.

"W-what does this have to do with me and Yuichi! We're talking about you here!"

"Geez Mai relax. I said as an example. Will you let me finish?" Natsuki said as she waved her hand in dismissal at the red head. Mai softly sighed calming herself down.

"Listen, the only one at that time who was in your heart was your brother. Right?" Mai nodded.

"Right. So as time passed and the more time you spent with Tate the more you started falling in love with him. So he in a sense replaced your brother in your heart. Are you following me so far?" Mai nodded again.

"So… it would be the same thing with my situation. Nao may have been in my heart at first, but then my feelings changed. And the new person who became important to me was Shizuru."

"That's wrong." Mai said bluntly.

"How is that wrong! Did anything I've said to you make no sense to you at all?" Natsuki shouted sounding very aggravated.

"No I understood it well and I do get what you're saying. But what's wrong is that my feelings originally changed without me even knowing, with you… you had no choice but to change your feelings in the blink of an eye." Natsuki gave Mai an intense look as she balled up her fist.

"What are you trying to say Mai?"

"I'm saying… and bear with me here don't get all crazy on me… and I can't stress that enough…"

"Mai!"

"I'm saying your feelings for Shizuru were false! That you were forced into changing your feelings to accommodate her!" Mai quickly put her hands over her mouth. She realized what she had just yelled out and wasn't sure how her friend would act or what she would say. Mai situated herself in a bracing position. She was right to do so as Natsuki slammed her fist down hard on the table.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY! YOU'RE TRYING TO SAY THAT I DIDN'T LOVE SHIZURU?"

"YES! THAT YOUR FEELINGS FOR HER WEREN'T REAL AND THAT YOU WERE FORCED TO FEEL THAT WAY!" Mai screamed back at Natsuki furiously. Mai quickly covered up her mouth again with hands. Natsuki slowly stood up from her seat and started walking away.

"Natsuki, where are you going?"

"Away, from you. If you think I'm going to sit there and listen to that bull, you thought wrong!" Natsuki walked rapidly as Mai tried her best to keep up with her. She was to the point where she had begun running in order to stay right by Natsuki's side.

"Natsuki wait! Please slow down!"

"Go away!"

"Where are you even going? Our first class hasn't started yet!"

"I don't care!" Mai was able to grab a hold of her temper mental friend in an attempt to slow her down. Mai was able to stop her from walking off anymore faster. Natsuki looked back to see that Mai had grabbed onto her arm, she gave her friend a fierce look.

"Mai let go!"

"No! Why are you running off like this!" Natsuki roughly pulled her arm away from Mai's grasp.

"Because, I don't need to listen to this bull!"

"Because it's true. That's why you don't want to listen." Mai answered back hastily.

"Nothing you said was true."

"Then why are you running?"

"I'M NOT!" Natsuki shouted out loud and slammed her fist right into a nearby tree. She hit the tree with such force that the leave's came swaying down off the branches. Mai gently put her hand on Natsuki's shoulder, but Natsuki shunned away.

"Please relax. The only reason you're upset right now is because… it is true what I said. You're afraid to hear it Natsuki… and now that it's settling in its making it that much harder for you to ignore what is really the truth." Natsuki took her fist out of the tree and covered her bruised and bloody knuckles with her other hand.

"No…"

"But Natsuki—

"No! No because… I already knew the truth. Mai… I've known for a long time, I just never wanted to face it after all this. I knew from the start what I felt wasn't exactly true, but it wasn't a lie either. To bring this up again… bringing it out into the open now is so painful. I know it's true and it's not that I didn't want to hear it… it's that I never wanted to hear it."  
Natsuki's words were filled with sorrow and pain as she rubbed her bloody bruised hand. Mai's face had fallen she hadn't any clue what Natsuki was already dealing with. She thought to herself that she wished her friend would have been more opened and honest with her after all they've been through.

"Natsuki… we should go to the nurse's office." Natsuki shook her head and turned to Mai with a weak smile.

"I'll be fine really. It doesn't even hurt. Mai… I'm so sorry." Mai smiled at Natsuki gracefully.

"Don't worry about it. I had no idea about this though. I didn't know that you had all this weighting on your mind, so I'm sorry Natsuki for even asking you."

"But that's your job. You're the nosey friend… remember?"

"Natsuki you're such a meanie."

"Thanks I know." They both smiled and shared a laughed.

"But… Natsuki I do need to ask… if you don't mind." Natsuki shook her head.

"No never mind."

"No Mai say it. I don't mind really. What more could you possibly ask?"

"Well (gulps) are you… u-um…"

"Mai!"

"Are you in love with Nao!" Mai noticed that Natsuki hadn't shouted or screamed at her sudden question; in fact Mai didn't hear anything into response of what she had just asked. Mai looked at Natsuki who had a blank stare on her face.

"N-Natsuki? You okay?" Natsuki dully nodded. She opened her mouth but quickly closed it back up. She had no idea what to say. Suddenly her blank stare turned to sadness as her face crinkled up; Natsuki was fighting the urge to hide her tears.

"Natsuki are you sure you're alright?" Mai asked worryingly as she laid her hand gently on Natsuki's arm.

"Natsuki I'm sorry really. I won't bring it up again, now please lets go to the nurses office." Natsuki was silent as she let Mai lead the way back toward the Academy. Mai took her to the nurse where she got her hand banged up, afterwards they both made their way to their class, of course they were very late but it wasn't bad since Mai had explained Natsuki's incident. Of course it was a lie she was sugar coating the real turnout of what had happened.

Natsuki was still as silent as before which didn't help Mai not worry about her friend any less. The day continued to drag on as Mai continued to stay by Natsuki's side making sure that her friend was even "there". Natsuki seemed very much like an empty shell. She didn't speak she hardly moved and she wouldn't eat. Even when Mikoto had joined them for lunch (her favorite subject) she tried to get the Ice Princess to eat something, but nothing. Finally the day had come to an end; Mai, Mikoto, and Natsuki were all standing near the schools entrance deciding on what to do.

"Hey Mai?"

"Yes Mikoto?"

"I really can't stay with you guys today. I'm meeting my brother!" Mikoto said very happily. Mai smiled.

"It's fine. I hope you have fun with him."

"I will!" Mikoto walked over to Natsuki who was still dazed.

"Please get better Natsuki." With that Mikoto waved goodbye to the two and ran off. Mai sighed and put her arm around Natsuki.

"Guess it's just me and you." She said shaking Natsuki slightly back and forth.

"Come on Natsuki! Snap out of it already! Did what I say really damage you that much? Or is it your hand that's bothering you?"

"Mai…"

"YAAAHHHH!" Mai yelp as she stepped away from Natsuki. Hearing the tiny voice leave her friends mouth really got to her.

"Natsuki! You scared the crap outta me!"

"Mai… I was thinking…"

"Yes Natsuki?" Mai asked as she eased her way back over to Natsuki.

"Where has… Nao been all day? I haven't seen her at all…"

"Now that you mention it… I haven't either. So I couldn't tell you." Natsuki finally let her tense body rest, her muscles that were once tighten were now relaxed and slowly but surely Natsuki came back into her own once again.

"I'm worried. If this is the way I was feeling, imagine how Nao must be feeling. She may be feeling as terribly lost and confused as I was. Knowing what she does now… it's hard on her as it was for me. I shouldn't have told her the truth but what choice did I have? She kept going on and on how I should have let Shizuru kill her."

"What do you mean?" Mai asked looking a little confused.

"I told you remember? How she said I should have let Shizuru kill her." Mai nodded.

"Well all this time I was thinking about everything you said… about what she said even what I said… just everything. The thing about the important person and how my feelings changed mostly, I was thinking about that more than anything. If my feelings didn't change… and Shizuru killed Nao… she wouldn't be alive."

"Natsuki that's not true."

"Yes it is! I would have killed her really then! If I didn't get to her in time and Shizuru killed her… she wouldn't have come back she wouldn't be alive! So you're right Mai, I did force my feelings to change in order to protect Nao." Natsuki said with a hint of anger in her voice. She turned to face Mai; she glanced at the red head but looked away all the faster.

"I didn't want to admit it but you did it for me Mai." Mai's face twisted with confusion. She was happy that Natsuki had regained herself but had no clue as to what her friend was complicating.

"Natsuki I swear I don't know what's gotten into your head."

"I'm saying thank you. I finally realized… no I finally accepted it."

"Accepted what?"

"Where my true feelings lie… it's true although now I'm with Shizuru, even after everything. When I found out the truth about how she felt for me I didn't know how to react to that and I couldn't feel the same for her… not because I didn't love her but because… I was already in love with someone else."

"Natsuki…" A smiled was brought to Mai's lips as she understood what Natsuki was saying to her. (Having this discussion with her wasn't such a bad idea after all.) Mai thought to herself. She walked up to Natsuki and gave her a hug.

"What was that for?" Mai's smiled widened as she then patted Natsuki on her back.

"It's a good luck hug. I know what you're thinking now so… I'm wishing you the best of luck."

"Thanks… I'll call you then later and let you know."

"Sure. See you later Natsuki." Natsuki waved goodbye to Mai as she ran off to get to her motorcycle, once there she quickly hopped on and started it up, putting on her helmet and sped off. She made her way into the city area in hopes of finding Nao. She couldn't possibly think as to where else she could be except here… somewhere. Natsuki had stopped along the way near a few bars and took out her cell and tried to call Nao. She even tried texting her.

"Dammit Nao! Where the hell are you? This is like the 13th time I've tried reaching you! Shit where are you?" Natsuki had parked her bike in an alley way and decided to travel on foot to find Nao. It was getting really late; hours have passed since she left Fuuka Academy. Natsuki took out her cell again and noticed her screen was flashing, apparently she missed a few text messages… but they weren't from Nao like she had hoped.  
They were all from Shizuru, at least six or seven messages she had left for Natsuki. Natsuki groaned as she read the messages, a few of them sounded as if Shizuru would die soon if Natsuki didn't return home. It was close to eleven by now. She was about to give up her search but thought it would be best to take another look around.

"AGH! This is impossible! There's no way that I have to look all over this city just for her! Man when Mai wished me luck earlier I seriously didn't know I would need it." Natsuki sighed heavily as she started walking back to where she had parked her bike. She stood at the corner of the street waiting for the light to change when she caught a glimpse of someone she thought she knew.

"No… that can be… would she still be doing that?" Natsuki swiftly ran down the block she was on to catch up with the person she thought she recognized. She ran up to her pursuer and grabbed a hold of them by their shoulder.

"Hey what the hell! K-Kuga?"

"Nao what the hell are you doing! Where have you been? Do you know I've been looking all over for you?" Nao simply didn't respond as she made no eye contact with Natsuki, acting as if she didn't even know her.

"…"

"Nao!" Natsuki grabbed Nao tightly by her shoulders and pulled her close.

"Look at me dammit! Listen to me! I know what happened yesterday just totally blew your mind… it blew my mind too. All day all I thought about was what I said to you and how very much so it's true… I was even able to find out more about what deeper meaning it meant for me. When I told you, you were my important person I wasn't just saying it. I meant it; you were everything to me at the time." Nao stomped on Natsuki's foot.

"OW! What the hell was that for!"

"Leave me alone Kuga… just like you did before. You acted like I was invisible then so why can't you do that now?"

"What hell do you mean?"

"I mean before I was your supposed important person! If I was so important to you why did you keep your distance, and why the hell did you always pick fights with me!" Natsuki had a look of shock about her face. She felt like she had been assaulted by one of Nao's everyday hits to the head.

"First off… you always argued with me. And second… well uh… there were reasons why I couldn't get close to you… to anyone for that matter." Nao huff as she crossed her arms looking away from Natsuki.

"_You got close enough to Shizuru." _Nao said under her breath.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you."

"I said nothing! Get lost will you! I'm waiting for someone."

"Uh… waiting for who?"

"My date."

"Date…?"

"Yeah a date. You know D-A-T-E. Do I have to spell out everything for you Kuga?" Natsuki shook her head.

"No but… Nao come on seriously?"

"What?"

"Don't do this again. And don't avoid what's going on here… between—

"Hold it right there!" Nao snapped back at Natsuki.

"There is nothing going on and nothing's ever happening between us. So don't even try it. Comin' down here looking for me, like I'm your property or something." Nao stated with a hint of disgust in her voice.

"No… I was worried about you. I had to find you."

"And do what Natsuki? What would you do after you found me?"

"I was and I'm trying to tell you. I'm trying to fully explain about the whole thing about what happened during the Festival. Even Mai now kno—

"Whoa. Wait a second… Mai knows?"

"Well… uh yeah." Natsuki replied nervously. Realizing that maybe she shouldn't have reviled that information to her. Before either of them could respond back a strange man had came, and stood right next to Nao putting his arm around her.

"Hey ready to go? Who's your friend?"

"She isn't my friend. I don't even know her." Natsuki's mouth hung open. She closed her mouth at once though as the two started to walk away.

"Nao don't walk away! And who the hell is this guy!"

"That's none of your business! Why don't you run on home to your woman?" Nao said angrily.

"Screw that! This is my business! You are my business! I care—

"About me? That's all this is to you isn't it? Just to make yourself feel better… and all I'll ever be to you is a friend a person you care so much for. Well I don't need that and I don't need you!" Nao and Natsuki were butting heads like they used too. They stood still glaring intently at each other for a few moments when the sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted their stare off.

"Hey Nao let's go. You said you don't know her so why you even talkin' to her?"

"Hey I don't even know you! And you don't know Nao so stop talking to her like you do! Why don't you get lost?" Natsuki shouted in the man's face. Nao put her arm through the man's arm and started to walk off again but Natsuki wouldn't have that.

"I said stop! Nao you're coming with me." Natsuki pulled Nao by the arm dragging her away from the man.

"Let… go! You're embarrassing me!"

"You're embarrassing yourself!"

"HEY! LET GO OF HER!" The man grabbed Nao's arm and shoved Natsuki aside. Natsuki got so angry her whole body tensed up. In the blink of an eye she took that guy down with a hard jab to his stomach and a knee bashed into his face. He hit the ground hard; Natsuki went back to holding onto Nao's arm, pulling her along with her.

"Kuga! What the hell!" Natsuki didn't answer back and stayed silent as they reached her bike. As soon as they got there Natsuki put Nao on the back of her bike and placed the helmet on her head. She then got on herself and started up the bike and sped off.


	5. Slowly Falling

Natsuki was racing through the city streets with Nao on her bike as she soon realized she had no idea where she was going with the hot headed red-head. But soon Natsuki slowed down and came to a stop. She stopped opposite of a tiny playground.

"Why are you stopping?"

"Haven't you noticed? It's snowing… I won't ride my bike in weather like this." Nao huffed and got off the bike. She had hit Natsuki, in the head "accidently" with her bag. Nao walked across the street to the playground, standing in the middle of the park holding herself because she was feeling cold.

Meanwhile Natsuki was rubbing the back of her head. She slightly cursed Nao under her breath as she did so. Natsuki looked over to where Nao was and sighed; she got off her bike and walked over to Nao in hesitation. Quietly Natsuki had slipped off her jacket and walked up behind Nao. She ever so gently placed her jacket around Nao. Nao looked over her shoulder as Natsuki proceeded to cover her with the jacket so that she wouldn't get to the point where she began turning into an icicle.

(Man, why is she staring at me like that? I know she's gonna yell at me about something) At first nothing but soon enough Nao did speak up.

"Thank you."

"O-oh! No… uh… no problem." Natsuki replied sounding very surprised.

"You didn't have to… won't you get cold?" Natsuki shook her head and smiled at Nao.

"I'll be fine. No worries. I'm sure this will pass soon… I'm hoping." Natsuki said reluctantly as the snow began to fall heavier.

"Why are you even wasting your time here with me? Don't you have a woman to get home too? I'm sure she's waiting for you." Nao said with a bit of resentment in her voice.

"First of all… Shizuru doesn't mind if I'm running late."

"If, you say so. I'm sure she won't like that you're hanging out with me so late. You do know her and I still have some differences." Natsuki nodded.

"I don't get why you aren't the same." Nao slid her arms through the sleeves of Natsuki's jacket from the inside.

"Meaning?"

"Why don't you hate me anymore?" Natsuki smacked her hand to her forehead and groaned.

"I never hated you Nao. And I don't plan on it, ever."

"But everything I did to you. I— Natsuki put both her hands on Nao's shoulders. She shook Nao a little to get her to stop talking about what was already pass tense.

"Stop it! Enough already." Nao looked down at the ground. Natsuki sighed heavily as she slid her hands off Nao's shoulders.

"You know… I am sorry about yesterday. But everything you said overwhelmed me. I didn't know what to say or do really. So I ran away and I'm sorry Kuga. But I have to ask… WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT BEFORE!" Nao suddenly snapped at Natsuki, who was taken aback by the unexpected outburst.

"What the hell are you yelling about!"

"About, you! You came up to me on the street out of nowhere! And then you beat up the guy I was with… WHAT'S YOU'RE PROBLEM!" Nao screamed at Natsuki at the top of her lungs.

"Hey I was just trying to look out for you! Why were you with that guy anyway?"

"That's none of your business!"

"It is when it concerns you! It's late at night and you're hanging around town with some creep you've just met! That isn't safe! I was so worried about you!" Natsuki continued to yell back at Nao. It seemed as if that was the only way Natsuki would be able to get a word in edgewise.

"Well don't worry about me! And what I do is my own business! Stop acting like you're my babysitter!"

"Someone has to look out for you!"

"Stop treating me like I'm child!"

"I will when you've learned to grow up!"

"You're not my mother so stop talking to me like you are!"

"Speaking of your mother I would love to know where she is! She should only know that you're throwing yourself at men like that. I mean what the hell were you thinking? You could have gotten hurt or worse!"

"SHUT UP! I NEVER LET THEM TOUCH ME! YOU'RE SUCH AN IDIOT KUGA! AND I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF I DON'T NEED YOU COMING TO MY RESCUE WHEN THERE ISN'T ANY NEED FOR IT!" Natsuki and Nao stopped shouting at one another for the moment. They were both so out of breath from all that yelling, nonsense that their breathing became labored. And it didn't help much with how the weather was at that point and time.

"Listen (Huff) to me… (Puff) it isn't like before. We no longer have our powers. (Ahh) You can't use your child… (Haah) Juliet… as backup like before. None of us can. Don't you get that?"

"I (Ahh) know that! (Huff) But I would… (hahaah) have been fine!" Natsuki crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really? Then (Agrh) shall I take you back? Let's see how well you've could have made your way out of an (Haaah) impossible situation." Nao's eyes grew intense as she gave Natsuki a piercing look.

"You don't know that! (Aahh)" Nao's breathing had gotten slightly better but even the cold was still too much for her. She began feeling woozy and stumbled back and forth. She collapsed backwards finally, but luckily the snow covered ground cushioned her fall. Natsuki quickly ran over to her, she positioned herself right above Nao.

"Nao! NAO! HEY WAKE UP!" When she wasn't responding, Natsuki lightly slapped Nao's cheeks. She started to reopen her eyes. Natsuki took a sigh of relief knowing that Nao wasn't seriously hurt and was going to be alright.

"Nao… we should get out of this cold. It isn't good for either of us. I don't need you getting sick on me."

"Natsuki…"

"Uh… Nao?" Natsuki didn't know how to respond to that. So those were the only words to come out of her mouth, as Nao reached up and put a hand on Natsuki's right cheek. She began caressing her cheek and Natsuki's face lit up like a Christmas tree light.

"N-Nao… what are you doing?"

"You really do worry over me don't you?"

"O-of course I do. (Gulp) Nao I really think we should—

"Why did you ignore me all that time? Up until now… I never mattered to you." Natsuki saw that Nao's face had both a look of pain and sorrow. She put her hand over Nao's and held it tight. She then looked Nao straight in the eyes giving off a serious look in return.

"Nao you've got to understand. I did what I did to keep you safe. I kept my distance from everyone… I didn't want anyone getting close to me. It's not that I was ignoring you Nao it's that it was the best thing to do at the time. I didn't want you especially or anyone else to get involved in what I was doing. I made it my business to not get any other HIME's involved… but that of course didn't work out. And you're right; all we ever did when we would come face to face with each other was fight and argue about random things. But again I couldn't let you in… on anything and I'm sorry that I pushed you away. That's why I'm doing my best to reach out to you now, but you're making it hard for me."

"But you were always with her." Natsuki sighed and removed her hand off of Nao's.

"That's because I suspected Shizuru of being a HIME. Plus I needed access to the computer data base from the school's main files. It was hard to do that with Shizuru around though, that's why I tried my best do get onto that computer when she wasn't around… but she was always around." Natsuki seemed to cringe at that moment remembering the run-ins she use to have with Shizuru. Suddenly Natsuki felt herself being jerked downwards. Apparently when she was talking Nao had slipped her hand to the back of Natsuki's neck, holding onto the back of her neck pulling her down making their faces meet all that much closer.

"N-Nao!"

"You're a liar Kuga!"

"N-no! I'm not lying to you Nao. I swear."

"It is a lie! All that time you could have just talked to me if you wanted too! You didn't have to tell me what was going on in your secret personal life. All I wanted was to talk to you to get to know you a little better. I wanted to spend time with you Kuga. And for you to not have seen that… well then you are an idiot!" Nao closed her eyes, trying to stop any tears from escaping.

"Nao I swear to you it's all true! Do you know how much I wanted to talk to you too? To even ask how you're day was going, but I couldn't have a normal life back then. And if you felt that way then why didn't you approach me as well? You could've easily came up to me as I could have to you. So why couldn't you?" Nao cracked her eyes opens giving off a rather harsh look toward the young woman she still had in her grasp.

"YOU WERE ALWAYS WITH HER! AND WHEN YOU WEREN'T WITH HER YOU WOULD GO OFF AND DO WHATEVER! I NEVER HAD TIME TO SAY ANYTHING TO YOU! YOU WERE ALWAYS RUNNING OFF!" Nao released her grip off of Natsuki's neck and covered her face as she began to cry. Natsuki rubbed the back of her neck and began feeling ashamed of herself, she had no idea that this was and is the way Nao has been feeling.

"Nao I… I have no excuse for making you feel that way."

"You're such a jerk!" Nao yelled through her hands.

"I know. You know we're gonna get sick. We've stay out here so long."

"I don't care… I hope you get pneumonia!"

"Hey that's not nice. Don't you know people can die from that? Geez, Nao do you want me dead?" Natsuki said in a jokingly manner trying to lighten the mood. Nao shook her head. Natsuki smirked and put her hands on Nao's wrists; she removed Nao's hands from her face and greeted her with a warm smile. Natsuki then wiped any remaining tears left behind by Nao's eyes; she stopped unexpectedly when her eyes meet Nao's. They both stared at each other intensely as Natsuki without realizing it had gotten closer to Nao's face to the point where their noses almost touched.

"Natsuki…" Nao whispered in a heavy breath.

"Nao…" Natsuki replied also in a whispered voice. Natsuki leaned in closer when…

"HEY! What the hell!" Nao had shoved a handful of snow right in Natsuki's face. As she was brushing off and spitting up snow Nao had crawled out from underneath her and started walking away.

"Nao what's your problem!"

"You! You had that goofy look on your face again! I knew what you were about to do!" Nao yelled back at Natsuki, who was just now getting up from the snow covered ground.

"I wasn't going to do anything!"

"You were going to kiss me! I saw it in those perverted eyes of yours!" Nao began walking along side of the street following the path away from the park and Natsuki. Natsuki quickly ran over to Nao and grabbed her arm. She didn't say a word to her as she started pulling Nao back to the motorcycle.

"Let go of me!"

"No, I'm taking you home."

"I could find my own way home!" Nao shouted as she pounding Natsuki's arm hoping she would let go. Natsuki ignored it and kept on pulling Nao over to the bike. When she got her there she lifted up Nao and sat her down on the back of the motorcycle. Nao was carrying on yelling and complaining, but again Natsuki ignored it as she herself got onto the bike.

"You better hang onto something."

"No!"

"Suit yourself." Natsuki bluntly said as she quickly started up the bike and sped off. Nao, even though she protested to hanging onto anything in the end she held onto Natsuki's waist firmly. The two both rode in silence as Natsuki went speeding down the highway. Soon she entered back onto the streets heading toward Nao's apartment, as soon as they got there and Natsuki stopped her bike Nao quickly hopped off. Natsuki ran after her yet again.

"Nao wait!"

"Shut up! Pervert!"

"Oh come off it!"

"You come off it! You were going to kiss me!" Nao turned back around and barked at Natsuki.

"You don't know if that's what I was going to do."

"Then what else were you leaning in for like that?" Natsuki shrugged her shoulders.

"Maybe I wanted to blow off a snowflake on your face." Nao rolled her eyes and began walking off again. Natsuki ran up to her and grabbed her on the shoulder.

"Okay okay wait! If I was going to kiss you… would that have been a bad thing?" Nao sighed and said nothing for a while. Natsuki couldn't figure out of that was a good or bad thing. Nao looked back up at Natsuki.

"There would have to be a reason for you wanting to kiss me all of a sudden."

(This is it! I mean I could tell Nao the truth… right? I have to I've waited long enough.) Natsuki thought to herself as she took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Okay well this goes back to what I've been trying to tell you. It goes back to how it was you who was really my important person."

"So it wasn't a lie?" Nao said sounding shocked.

"No. Everything I've told you is the truth. Everything…" Natsuki got up closer to Nao and held both of Nao's hands in hers.

"Nao the thing I've been trying to tell you all this time… I finally realized it and now I have the courage to say it. I'm just so sorry I never got the chance to tell you sooner. If I had things would be very different right now."

"What is it Kuga? It sounds really heavy… sounds like you've been holding this back for a while." Natsuki nodded.

"I have… for so long you don't even know."

"Well now's the time to tell me. You should hurry before we both catch pneumonia." Both Nao and Natsuki laughed. But she shook it off quickly realizing she had to tell Nao once and for all her true feelings.

"Nao I don't hate you I never hated you. And I value our friendship very much I never want to lose that. I want you to at least know that before I go on… because after I tell you this I have no clue how you will feel about me afterwards."

"Kuga please… just get on with it. Whatever it is I know it can't be all that bad coming from you." Natsuki nodded and swallowed hard. Her whole body began to shake and her heart was palpitating at an alarming rate. Nao noticed that Natsuki's face had gone pale; she placed her hand on Natsuki's forehead to see if she was feeling alright and didn't have a fever.

"Kuga you look like you about to pass out."

"No! I'm fine!"

"O… okay." Nao said retreating back.

"Nao… Nao I—

"Oh hold on a sec. I seem to be vibrating."

"Huh?" Nao reached into Natsuki's jacket pocket. Natsuki's cell phone was buzzing away she had forgotten all about it till now. She sighed heavily in disappointment knowing all too well who it was calling her. Natsuki let go of Nao's hand in defeat and got her cell phone and flipped it open to answer.

"Hello…" (Sighs)

"_Natsuki! Where are you? It's so late! Are you alright?"_

"Yes Shizuru I'm fine. I just had a little bit of engine trouble. I fixed it though."

"_Oh thank goodness! I was really getting worried." (Sniff, sniff)_

"Shizuru don't cry. Please. I'll be home in a while I promise. Besides that it was snowing so it was kind of hard to see with all that snow. I pulled over and that's when the engine was making some funny noise. But like I said I took care of it.

"_I'm just so glad you're safe! I can't wait for you to get home to me. I'll warm you up Natsuki I know you must be cold." _Shizuru said playfully over the phone. Teasing Natsuki like she always did but Natsuki couldn't help but blush.

"Alright. Goodbye Shizuru." As soon as Natsuki hung up the phone she felt near ready to cry. She was so close to telling Nao that she was the one she loved but like always Shizuru somehow sneaks her way into things. Natsuki turned around to face Nao with a sadden face. Natsuki walked up to Nao and hugged her.

"Kuga? What's the matter?" Nao asked worryingly.

"Nao… I love you."

Nao's eyes widened. Natsuki's sudden confession caught her off guard. She blurted it out not knowing what else to do. She pulled away from Nao and walked back over to her bike. She hated how she told Nao she loved her in that way, but she felt if she didn't say it now she wouldn't get another chance to. Natsuki didn't even have time to worry if Nao believed her or not as she hopped back on her bike and drove off heading back home; leaving a shocked and confused Nao standing in the lightly falling snow.


	6. Don't Go

Nao, with speediness ran over to where Mai was sitting. She slammed her bag down on the table shaking it nearly spilling over the contents on the table. Slamming her hand down on the table Nao stared coldly at Mai.

"WHERE'S YOUR IDIOT FRIEND!"

"Excuse me?" Mai exclaimed, holding onto her lunchbox and drink from spilling over.

"WHERE'S KUGA!" Mai shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm sorry Nao. I haven't seen Natsuki today yet." Nao huffed and sat down at the table. She crossed her arms and legs and stared off into the distance.

"Nao is something wrong? Did you and Natsuki fight again?" Nao shook her head.

"Then what's wrong?"

"Kuga was just being so stupid last night. She said something and then took off!"

"What did she say?"

"SHE—she said she loved me… AND THEN SHE TOOK OFF!"

"Nao first of all settle down. Now tell me exactly what happened." Nao sighed heavily as she began to explain what happened last night when Natsuki had giving her a ride home. Mai sat there taking everything in. Every so often she would nod her head to signal to Nao that she was paying attention. Nao finished and looked to Mai for advice.

"Both you and her are the same. Natsuki always comes to me with these kinds of things. Although I don't know why, I don't believe I always give great advice. I should be flattered though that she takes such pride in what I say. Now hers and your situation is the same. But, you seem rather offended." Nao looked at Mai with a bit of confusion.

"What do you mean? And what do you mean hers and my situation are the same?" Mai rubbed her forehead.

"You see, as you know from last night Natsuki had feelings for you. Nao nodded.

"Right so the thing is she had trouble telling you…until then. And with you, you just have too much feeling."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Let me ask. Are you mad that she said she loved you or that she walked away right after?"

"Well I… She… um… WELL SHE SHOULDN'T HAVE WALKED AWAY! How do you walk away from someone after suddenly confessing like that?"

"I don't know Nao. I'm sure Natsuki didn't like it herself. She also probably didn't know what to say right after."

"So she walked away, because she didn't know what else to say." Nao shook her head. She felt herself growing angry but she didn't know why. (Maybe Tokiha is right. Maybe I was mad that she walked away but… saying that to me out of nowhere…)

"Let's wait and see if Kuga shows up today!" Nao shouted once again toward Mai. Mai smiled and nodded. But she too wondered where Natsuki could be.

At the time Natsuki was just barely waking up in bed. Shizuru had been trying to wake her for about an hour. Because of that Shizuru would also be late for school, but because of her famous status and somewhat hold she has on her male teachers, they wouldn't mind at all if Shizuru didn't show up. That's one good thing about being a Fujino.

Finally when Natsuki woke up, she was surprised to find Shizuru sitting at the table with food awaiting her.

"Shizuru…? What are you still doing here?"

"I was waiting for you to get up. Actually I've been trying to get you up. Last night wore you out I guess." A wide smiled graced itself on Shizuru's lips. Natsuki blushed as she hurried to sit down at the table.

"Shizuru… I'm sorry I got in so late. But I told you not to wait up for me." Shizuru shook her head.

"I didn't mind. We haven't been able to spend that much time together so I wanted last night to be our night." Natsuki's face grew a brighter red.

"W-well what about school?"

"What about it?"

"Shouldn't you be in your second class by now?" Shizuru nodded.

"I wanted to wait up for you. You're late too Natsuki."

"I know…" Natsuki groaned under her breath. Shizuru looked at her oddly.

"Did you not want to go to school today?"

"It's not that. I just – hey why did you fall in love with me Shizuru?" She said as she began to eat the food that lay before her.

"That's an interesting question coming from you Natsuki." Seeing how Shizuru was taken aback by that statement, Natsuki quickly changed the subject.

"Uh, so why didn't you go to school? Won't you get in trouble?"

"Natsuki, you know its fine. Please why did you ask that?"

"Ask what?" Natsuki asked nervously trying to dodge the question. She continued to stuff food in her mouth so that she wouldn't have to worry about opening her mouth.

"You asked why I fell in love with you. It's difficult to explain. I've always been in love with you Natsuki since the day I met you in the garden when I saw you standing there. You looked lost that's why I approached you." Natsuki gulped down her food and smiled.

"Didn't you just want to stop me from crushing that flower?" Shizuru smiled.

"That and because you looked so cute."

"Cut it out." Natsuki began to blush again.

"I knew I wanted to stay by your side since then. The more time I spent with you the more I got to know you the more I fell in love with you. I love you Natsuki." Shizuru had this somber look about her face. Natsuki felt her heart skip a beat. She also was beginning to feel guilty because of her sudden confession to Nao.

"Shizuru…"

"Yes, Natsuki?"

"I… um thanks for the food." Shizuru smiled.

"It was no problem. Are you going to go to school now?"

"Yeah I should. I've been trying not to miss any. I do want to graduate soon, and maybe go to the same school as you." Both women smiled at each other. Shizuru slid her hand across the table and held onto Natsuki's. Shortly after Natsuki got up and got dressed. Before leaving she gave Shizuru a kiss and thanked her again for the delicious food.

Natsuki headed downstairs hopped on her bike put on her helmet and sped off. As she was riding through the streets she took a right turn instead of a left. She had quickly remembered something she had to do and at the same time almost forgot. She made a quick pit stop and then headed off again in the direction of the school. Natsuki bypassed the gates to Fuuka Academy and parked in her usual spot like always.

(Sighs) "Mai's probably gonna yell at me for being late." Natsuki said quietly to herself as she took off her helmet and placed it on her bike. (I wonder if Nao's here… after last night I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't want to see me now.)

Natsuki thought to herself. But what she didn't realize was that, that was the exact opposite of what Nao wanted. In fact Nao couldn't wait to see and confront Natsuki. Natsuki felt herself unable to move from where she stood, she could feel that something was amiss. Eventually she talked herself into moving; with her feet cooperating she headed toward the school building but not before passing where Mai and Nao were sitting. Nao saw Natsuki, meeting each other eyes Nao didn't yell like she would always do instead she got up from her seat and walked over to Natsuki stopping her in her tracks.

"Kuga. Where have you been?" Nao asked as she placed her had up in front of Natsuki. Natsuki took Nao's hand, holding it softly in her own.

"I'm sorry Nao. I had a late start." Nao blushed and retracted her hand back.

"D-Don't apologize to me! Geez Kuga you're a mess. Why were you late though? I'm sure if anyone would like to know it would be Tokiha."

"Well I kinda didn't want to get up this morning." Nao cocked her head to the side.

"Why?"

"Because I knew that… I would have to see you…"

"Oh so that's how it is now! SEEING ME MAKES YOU THAT DISPLEASED! THAT YOU WOULD JUST WANT TO LIE IN BED ALL DAY! DO I MAKE YOU THAT UNCOMFORTABLE!"

"Nao wait! That's not what I meant!" Nao quickly grabbed one of her books and raised it high in the air, getting ready to assault the blue haired beauty.

"NAO I DIDN'T WANT TO SEE YOU CAUSE' I KNEW I WOULD HAVE TO EXPLAIN MY ACTIONS TO YOU ABOUT LAST NIGHT! AND I DON'T KNOW HOW!" Nao dropped her book. Her face dropped as well.

"What do you mean you don't know how? You ran off without saying anything after."

"I know… I regret that so much. Leaving you like that, it felt wrong. But I didn't know what else I could do or say… it would have been hard to explain."

"Explain what?" Natsuki was huddled on the ground the entire time, bracing herself for one of Nao's attacks. But she got up and finally faced Nao. She looked directly into her semi-cold green eyes.

"That I love you."

"Shut up… you don't know what you're saying."

"Yes I do. I know I do. This morning I realized that I always loved you… I couldn't bring myself to say it till recently though." Nao looked away with her cheeks burning. She shook her head and took her left hand and struck Natsuki on her head.

"OW! What was that for!"

"For being an IDIOT!" Nao picked up her book off the ground and ran away. Natsuki was trying to call out to her but Nao had already vanished. Natsuki standing there rubbing her head, was shocked and confused all at that same time. Mai, who was watching the whole conversation play out between the two, finally got up and walked over to her confused friend. She placed her hand on Natsuki shoulder.

"You know, you two really are alike. The thing is, this time Nao is the one who's running away. You both need to talk to each other and soon before things get more complicated."

"Yeah I know…"

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know…" Mai sighed as she placed her other hand on Natsuki's other shoulder. She shook her gently back and forth.

"Natsuki come on. Use that thick skull of yours. I know it's hard but you have to get a handle on this. Maybe you should take time for yourself or…"

"Or…?"

"Go after her." Natsuki looked up from the ground and smiled a bit, but that smile soon turned into a frown once again.

"Hey what happened? I would have thought that would've made you happy and that you would be running off by now to catch up with her?"

"I do… I want to but… what if she doesn't want to see me right? What if I pushed her away this time?" Mai raised her fist and bonked Natsuki on the head. Then she pointed into the direction that Nao ran into, prompting Natsuki to go after the girl. Natsuki rubbed her head and nodded at her sweet but pushy friend. Soon Natsuki took off in search of Nao.

(I wish Mai wouldn't butt into my business… but if it weren't for her I wouldn't be here doing this now. I would have never told Nao how I really feel. So I should probably thank her again… but I have to find Nao)

Natsuki ran all over the building checking all the hallways going up and down the staircases checking empty rooms, calling out Nao's name. She went in the gym the council room, all the class rooms that were empty even the rooftop. Natsuki even took it upon herself to check the girl's dorm. But she wasn't having any luck, even with the students she asked nearby. She had asked if they've seen Nao but they all said they haven't, Natsuki was feeling pretty low she didn't know what else to do or where else to look. She felt defeated she looked everywhere possible or at least where she could think of.

The next thing Natsuki could do was wait, but she decide to go wait by Mai's class to get out so she could ask if maybe she seen Nao in the last hour. When Natsuki stopped running down the hall and reached the doorway of Mai's class she slumped down against the wall and onto the floor. Natsuki was really worn out from all that running around she did. It was the first time in a long time that Natsuki had felt so tired.  
When Mai's class got out she quickly took notice of an exhausted Natsuki sitting on the floor. She stood in front of Natsuki staring down at her, while she shook her head.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Out of shape are we?"

"Tch! Shut up and lend me a hand." Natsuki demanded as she reached out her hand. Mai sighed and helped Natsuki up. Natsuki brushed off the back of her skirt.

"Well? Any luck?"

"No." Natsuki said bitterly.

"Mai I looked everywhere. The locker rooms, dorm, gym, kendo club, the garden, even all my hiding places… which aren't that well hidden if Nao can find me all the time. I swear I don't know where else to look."

"That's crazy. I didn't think she ran off so fast like that. And you really have no idea?" Natsuki shook her head furiously. She banged her fist against the wall.

"Dammit! This is all my fault! If I would have just been more honest with her! If I would have told her… if I would have just told her…" Natsuki's words were filled with resentment. Mai put her hand to her chin and began to think.

"Natsuki… there has to be some place… some place that you and her shared."

"What do you mean "shared"? Natsuki asked curiously.

"Well you know not shared as in like a couple. But a place that holds some kind of meaning for the both of you." Suddenly it hit Natsuki and she took off in a flash without even saying anything to Mai. She ran out of the school and rapidly made way to her bike. She hopped on it without even putting on her helmet and sped off, burning rubber in the process.

(This is the only place I could think of that Nao might be at. I'm hoping I'm right, it is after all where she took me that night… I was her lure for Shizuru)

Natsuki revved her engine more to take up speed. She soon came up to the highway she used to visit so often, especially during the HiME battles and to pay respects to her mother. There in the distance she could see a figure sitting at the edge of the cliff. She stopped on the shoulder by the highway, got off her bike and approached the person sitting at the edge.

"Nao?" Natsuki said while taking in a deep breath, almost as if she was afraid to speak.

"How did you find me?" Nao asked quietly

"I… I don't know. I kinda had help thinking of where you might be."

"Oh?"

"But I thought you would be here… I bet it reminds you of what happened here." Nao shook her head up and down. Natsuki walked over closer to her, she knelt down beside her.

"I really wish you would stop running off like that. Before you even let me finish."

"I'm sorry."

"Does me saying I love you… scare you that easily?"

". . ." Natsuki sighed heavily and stood up. She was going to walk away but felt that Nao was holding onto her hand.

"Can you stay? Can you sit with me and just stay?" Natsuki turned around and sat next to her on the edge of the cliff.

"You can sit closer Kuga. I won't bite… or push you."

"You sure?"

"Duh." Natsuki cringed and reluctantly moved over closer to Nao.

"I'm sorry I ran off… again. I came here to think. I was also wondering if you would know I was here."

"I looked all over for you. This is the last place I thought you would be. But Mai helped me figure it out. She said what would be a place we both shared, and it hit me. So I came rushing here. But why come here to think? And what is it that you're thinking about?" Nao was silent for a while as she gazed off into the sunset.

"I was thinking about us Kuga."

"US!" Natsuki face immediately flared up. She felt her heart racing and pounding hard in her chest.

"I have feelings for you too." (WHAT THE HELL! This isn't the Nao I know! She would never admit to anything like that… no it had to be a trick I'm sure of it!)

"Would you stop looking at me like that? I swear you're worse than Tokiha." Nao stated as she saw the somewhat frighten look upon Natsuki's face. Natsuki soon relaxed slightly but she still held up her guard. Nao shook head and moved a little closer to Natsuki and grabbed her hand. That made Natsuki's face flare up again.

"I've been… trying to hide it from you. When you said that you love me… I wanted to say it back."

"Nao…"

"But I was scared. And you took off Natsuki." Nao was trying to hold back her tears but a few slipped passed her eyelids. Natsuki cupped Nao's cheek and wiped away some of the tears with her thumb. Nao put her hand against Natsuki's and looked up into Natsuki's shinning emerald eyes. Natsuki felt her heart beat again but this time it was slower, at the same time Nao's heart was beating as well.

"Don't cry… okay? There's no reason to."

"So… you're not going to kiss me?"

"SAY WHAT!" Natsuki shouted almost scaring herself off the cliff. Nao sighed and pushed her away.

"Forget it. I was only kidding." Nao got up and dusted her skirt off. She turned and smiled at Natsuki.

"Thanks Kuga for finding me. Can you take me home?" Natsuki silently nodded. She got up and dusted her skirt off as well. As she watched Nao walk to her bike she felt her body tense up. She called out Nao's name to get her attention. Natsuki walked over to Nao and grabbed onto her arms and pulled her close to her. Nao's eyes widened as she felt Natsuki's lips firmly press up against hers.


	7. Can't wait No More

**SLAP!**

"OWW! What the hell did you do that for!" Natsuki shouted as she rubbed the side of her face.

"I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU DID THAT! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING KUGA!" Nao shouted back at Natsuki.

"I don't know! I just wanted to kiss you."

"And you think you have the right to do so? Why would you even do that? You're with that woman for goodness sake."

"This has nothing to do with Shizuru. I wanted to kiss you because of how I feel for you and I know you feel the same way."

"You have no idea how I feel." Nao said very coldly staring down at Natsuki. Natsuki finally stopped rubbing her cheek although it was still throbbing; Nao surely did slap her hard.

"Nao I love y—

"Don't say that! Not after you stole my first kiss." Nao sighed heavily and crossed her arms. Natsuki's heart began to race again. She put her finger up to her lips and gently grazed over them.

"I was your first… kiss?" Nao quickly turned around and punched Natsuki in the arm.

"Ow!"

"Idiot! Don't sound proud!"

"I'M NOT! I just had no idea. I would have thought—

"Thought what? That I would just let anyone kiss me or have their way with me?" Nao question as she raised her fist up in the air again, getting ready to strike incase Natsuki said something out of turn. Natsuki shook her head; she stepped up closer to Nao and put her hand on her shoulder. Nao's face softened and she lowered her fist.

"Nao… I know you said you never let any of those guys touch you. I believe that, I just assumed that you would have kissed someone by now… I'm sorry. I really wanted to kiss you." Nao's face turned red as did Natsuki's.

"Do… do you mean it?"

"Yeah I do."

"I guess I can forgive you then. Take me home now would ya." Nao said in a very demanding voice. Natsuki stood there stunned. (Grrr, she's messing with me. She totally disregarded everything I just said. She's treating me like her slave again…)(Sighs)

"Really? You really want me to take you home after all this?"

"Yeah. And can you hurry it's starting to snow again." Nao walked over to Natsuki's bike and sat on it. She held herself as she felt cold from the falling snow. Natsuki shook her head and walked over to her. She took off her jacket and put it around Nao. Nao was surprised when she felt the fabric being placed around her.

"Kuga… what are you—

"Shut up. I don't need you freezing to death, you know." Nao smiled shyly. Natsuki hopped on her bike and handed over the helmet to Nao. Nao shook her head.

"Kuga I told you I won't take your only helmet until you get another one."

"This is another helmet. I have my own this one's yours. I picked it up this morning before I came to school. I didn't feel comfortable with you riding with me without a helmet… so I finally got another one. Sorry it took a while."

"Thank you… Natsuki." Natsuki smiled as she put on her own helmet. Nao put on hers as well and put her arms around Natsuki's waist, holding her tightly. Natsuki's smile grew wider and she started to blush again. She told Nao to hang on and then took off at a blinding speed.

Soon Natsuki got to Nao's apartment; she pulled up in front and shut off her motorcycle. Nao got off the bike. She took off the jacket and handed it back to Natsuki. Natsuki put back on her jacket and then took off her helmet. Nao took off her helmet then and smiled at Natsuki.

"Thanks Kuga. And sorry for beating up on you."

"No worries. I'm used to it." They both chuckled then. Their chuckles soon turned into laughter. They laughed for a while, to the point where Nao had tears in her eyes. She wiped her eyes after and looked down at the ground.

"Nao what's wrong?"

"N-nothing! Um… I um wanted to ask…" Nao held her helmet into her chest she felt her heart racing.

"I was wondering… if maybe you wanted to… (Mumbling)" Natsuki gripped onto the handlebars of her motorcycle and leaned over to hear Nao better.

"Um… would you want to…?" Nao couldn't finish because she felt her heart kept racing faster and faster. Her face even turned a bright red.

"Nao just spit it out."

"WOULD YOU, WANT TO COME UPSTAIRS WITH ME!" Nao quickly put a hand over her mouth. Natsuki's hands slipped off the handlebars, nearly falling off her bike. Natsuki held her balance and stared at Nao with her cheeks a light pink. Nao averted her gazed and shook her head. She turned around.

"Forget it! I'm sorry!" Nao was about to run away but couldn't go anywhere do to the fact that Natsuki was holding onto her. Nao hadn't noticed since her back was turned, that Natsuki got off her bike and was standing directly in back of her. Natsuki had her arms around Nao's shoulders.

"I would like very much to come upstairs." Natsuki answered in a hushed voice. Nao's face was still red as she nodded. The two walked quietly as they made their way to the apartment. Nao unlocked the door and allowed Natsuki to enter first; she closed the door behind them. They both took off their shoes and Nao sat the helmet down next to the door.

"Um, make yourself at home."

"O-okay." Natsuki awkwardly took off her jacket and hung it up on the back of the door. Nao had made her way to the couch and sat down. Natsuki continued to stand by the door.

"You could sit down you know." Nao said as she saw how uncomfortable Natsuki was. Natsuki nodded and sat down at the far end of the couch away from Nao. The two still were blushing as neither one of them knew what to do or say. But Nao was the first one to speak up.

"You know you can sit closer." Nao said as she glared at Natsuki. Natsuki gulped and moved closer.

"Do you want something to drink?"

"N-no I'm fine. Thanks."

"Um… Kuga?"

"Yes?"

Um…" Nao moved over closer to a nervous Natsuki. She put her hand out and put hers over Natsuki. Natsuki felt her heart pound against her chest. She hasn't been this nervous since the first time she and Shizuru slept together. Nao held Natsuki's hand firmly as she moved closer even still, so close that their thighs were nearly touching. Natsuki turned her head to face Nao.

"Is… something wrong, Nao?"

"No…"

"Oh… I see." Natsuki looked away, but quickly looked back at Nao.

"Hey I was wondering…" They both had spoke at the same time. They stared at each other for a few moments before they begun to laugh. But soon Natsuki moved closer to Nao. Then Natsuki started leaning her head forward inching closer to Nao's face. Nao gripped one of the pillows that were on the couch, and wacked Natsuki in the head with it.

"What did you do that for! Are you trying to give me brain damage!"

"Nothing can damage that thick skull of yours Kuga. Besides you had that goofy look on your face again. Don't think I didn't know what you were thinking."

"Oh, really? And what was I thinking?"

"You were trying to kiss me again." Natsuki's mouth hung open. She was flabbergasted. Natsuki slammed her hands down onto the cushions.

"You're the one who kept getting closer to me! If anything you were trying to kiss me!"

"That's crazy! Why would I wanna kiss you! Beside you already stole a kiss from me." Natsuki snarled as she grinded her teeth.

"THAT'S IT!" Natsuki lunged forth at Nao knocking her to the floor tickling her furiously.

"HEY CUT IT OUT!" Nao said through her laughter. She tried to push Natsuki off but she wasn't strong enough to do so. Natsuki just kept tickling her and tickling her.

"Never! I'm gonna tickle you forever!"

Nao was able to grab the pillow off the couch and hit Natsuki again. Natsuki stopped finally and put her hand on either side of Nao. They both laughed and slowly started to stop. Then they stared into each other's eyes. Natsuki lowered herself slightly over Nao. They barely moved as they lied there on the floor.

"You have… beautiful eyes."

"So do you… Natsuki." Natsuki smirked.

"I love when you say my name." Nao blushed.

"Are you going to kiss me?" Natsuki eyes widened and gulped.

"D-do you want me to?" Nao blushed and turned her head away. Then she took Natsuki's hand and placed it in the middle of her chest. Natsuki face heated up and she felt her whole body tingle.

"Nao…"

"You can feel that right?"

"Yeah. Your heart is really pounding."

"I know. My heart is pounding so hard against my chest. It has been since you kissed me. It hasn't stopped, I'm a little scared but excited at the same time… I never felt this way before. You keep changing me Kuga. And yet I don't mind it. I do love you too." Natsuki was speechless as she kept her hand on Nao's chest. Suddenly Nao placed her hand on the back of Natsuki's neck and pulled her down into a full on lip lock.

Natsuki didn't fight it; she even laid her body fully against Nao's. Nao ran her hand through Natsuki's long silky hair and held onto her shoulder. As they continued to kiss, Natsuki's hand started to wander and she ended up rubbing Nao's leg. She softly rubbed her leg up and down and then started moving more up; she rested her hand on Nao's thigh and moved her hand in a circular motion. Nao moaned through the kiss as Natsuki did that, but when Natsuki still wanted things to go further she moved her other hand from the middle of Nao's chest and placed it on her right breast.  
From there Nao pushed Natsuki back. Then she removed Natsuki's hands from her thigh and breast. Natsuki sat up straddling Nao's hips breathing heavily from their intense kissing. She noticed that Nao was shaking like a leaf. She went to go touch Nao again but Nao slapped her hand away.

"Nao… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

". . ."

"Nao please, I am really sorry. I don't know what got into me. Please forgive me." Nao said nothing and slid out from underneath Natsuki. Nao stood with her back to Natsuki, holding herself.

"Maybe this was a bad idea…" Natsuki quickly got up from the floor and rushed to Nao's side.

"No! Don't say that. I'm sorry I was being a jerk… I was rushing you." Nao shook her head.

"It's not that… I want to but… I'm not experienced like you are. I want to but it's not like I have you to myself."

"You have me now. I'm with you now aren't I?"

"Yeah but soon you're going to go home to her."

"This isn't about Shizuru! Nao I'm here with you I love you."

"That isn't the issue. I know you love me but you also love her. And in the end you will always go back to her. Maybe that's why I didn't want to go any further than this." Nao turned to face Natsuki. She placed her hands on either side of Natsuki cheeks.

"I understand that you can be in love with two people at once. But you can only love one of them more… and for you it's easy to see who that is."

"Nao don't say that you have no idea how I feel. I love you I always have. I'm sorry I wasn't able to tell you from the start but it was harder as time went by, especially when –

"When… I started the battles." Natsuki shook her head. She put her hands over Nao's.

"It wasn't your fault. How many times do I have to tell you? None of it was your fault Nao. You know why though I couldn't say anything until now. There were times I wanted to tell you, but I didn't want to endanger you or get you involved in anything… not until I knew it was safe. When we fought that night do you remember how I barely attacked you?" Nao nodded.

"I didn't want to hurt you. And I didn't want to fight you… because if I did and I won, you would have disappeared."

"What do you mean?" Nao's eyes glistened in the light. Natsuki took Nao's hand and put it on her chest.

"You were and still are the most important person in my heart. It was always you." Nao was so moved by Natsuki words that a few tears fell from her olive green eyes.

"But Fujino…"

"It's complicated… believe me. But right now, I'm right where I'm supposed to be." Nao moved up to Natsuki and kissed her on the lips softly once again. Natsuki held Nao by her waist holding her firmly against her body. As they kissed they were soon interrupted by a buzzing sound. Both of them looked toward the couch, the buzzing was coming from that direction. Natsuki knew already it was her cell phone ringing.  
Natsuki groaned and let go of Nao. She felt sadden as she had to let go of her lover, but the buzzing of her phone was being to irritate her and grow more loudly. Natsuki walked over to the couch and grabbed her jacket. She reluctantly answered it.

"_Natsuki?"_

"Yes, Shizuru. I'm here."

"_Are you okay? I thought you would be home by now."_

"Everything's fine. Mai and Mikoto asked me to sleepover tonight. I'm sorry I didn't call sooner, we were eating dinner and playing some games."

"_Oh well that's fine. Its okay I was just worried because it was getting late. I'll see you tomorrow then; don't be too rough with them." _Natsuki laughed a little.

"I won't I promise."

"_I love you Natsuki… Goodnight."_

"I love you too. Goodnight." Natsuki hung up and put her cell phone back in her jacket pocket. Natsuki could tell from Shizuru's voice that something was wrong, but she couldn't worry about that now. She was only focused on one person at the moment.

"Why did you lie?" Natsuki turned to Nao and smiled.

"I didn't lie. I 'am sleeping over… I'm just sleeping at your place." Natsuki answered. She walked back over to Nao and held her in her arms. Nao put her hands on Natsuki's shoulders.

"My mom might come home Natsuki… what would I tell her?"

"Nothing… since we'll be in your room." Natsuki smiled.

"Natsuki… you're a pervert." Nao blushed and she smiled and hugged Natsuki tightly.

"You know I won't do anything you don't want to do." Nao looked up at Natsuki and into her eyes. She saw that she was telling the truth. Nao slid her hands down from Natsuki's shoulders and rested them on her chest.

"Nao…"

"Let's go to bed Natsuki." Nao took Natsuki's hand and led her to her bedroom. Nao closed the door behind them. She led Natsuki to her bed and pushed her down. Nao sat atop of her straddling her hips; she leant down and kissed Natsuki softly. She took Natsuki's hands and put them on her thighs. Nao pulled her lips away from Natsuki's and moved them to her ear.

"I want you to do whatever you want to me." She whispered ever so sweetly in her ear. When Nao looked back at Natsuki she saw in her eyes that she was unsure if she should do anything. As Natsuki stated before she didn't want to do anything that Nao wasn't ready for. Natsuki's body was saying yes but her heart was saying no. Although she really wanted to, she felt that Nao was rushing into this because of her relationship with Shizuru. But eventually Nao was able to get the strong-willed fighter to give in.


	8. Still Holding Out Hope

_As usual Natsuki had gotten to school late, but she wasn't alone this time. She had aboard with her a passenger… but things weren't as cozy as anyone would think. Although last night's events took a turn for greatness, it didn't end well; which left the two them with a bitter taste in their mouths. Nao on one hand felt displeased and on the other Natsuki was drained of her energy and felt downright low at that precise moment. The arrival of the Ice Princess and the fiery redhead together left most Fuuka Academy students stunned. They gasped and whispered as the two walked by.  
Soon Natsuki and Nao parted ways, while Natsuki made her way to meet up Mai like she did almost every morning; Nao went off to do… whatever it is Nao does best. _

Natsuki went over to one of the closes tables she could to wait for Mai. Natsuki sat and slumped down into the chair, she left half of herself hang from the table. She used her arms as a pillow and rested her head on them. As Natsuki was waiting for Mai she quickly dosed off.  
Soon the other redhead came bouncing along with a happy face as always. She noticed Natsuki sitting (more like slouching) at the table. She gracefully walked over and took a seat across from Natsuki. The sudden shift of Mai pulling the chair away from the table had awoken the sleepy headed Natsuki. When Natsuki lifted her head she wasn't aware or had time to endure the loud shrieking that would come out from Mai's mouth.

AAAHHHHH! NATSUKI WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR FACE!" Mai pointed her finger directly at Natsuki's face. The sudden shock of how her face looked made Mai shake like leaf. Natsuki lazily pointed at her own face.

"I know… I look like a zombie." Natsuki groaned and put her head back down on the table. Mai reached over and elevated her head.

"Uh… sorry I screamed. But uh… Natsuki what happened to you? You look horrible, not to mention you have raccoon eyes."

"I know…" Natsuki grumbled.

"Well what happened?" Mai asked as she slowly put Natsuki's head back down.

"Well…" Natsuki rubbed her face and sat up straight in the chair.

"I was sort of up… all night…"

"Why?"

"Because…."

"Because… why?" Natsuki sighed heavily and crossed her arms. She sat back in her chair rocking it back and forth.

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"But Natsuki, I'm very curious to know as to why you look like you're half dead." Mai said while she used her index fingers to pull down the bottom of her eyelids. In a way to resemble Natsuki's horrible looking face, but also taking a stab at her. Natsuki grinded her teeth some, she didn't much care for Mai's attempted jokes at her expense.

"Grrr, listen you…" Mai burst with laughter.

"Natsuki relax! Take a joke okay? I'm sorry."

"WELL IT ISN'T FUNNY!"

"Well your face is funny! HAHAHAHAHA!" Natsuki stood up out of her chair and slammed her hand flat down on the table.

"STOP IT! OR I SWEAR I'LL NEVER TALK TO YOU AGAIN!" She growled at Mai. Soon she stopped her insidious laughter. She asked Natsuki to calm down and to not be so childish. Natsuki mumbled and sat back in the chair in her usual position. Slumped in the chair and crossing her arms grumbling to herself.

"Okay, so are you going to tell me?" Mai asked as she wiped away a few tears from her uncontrollable laughing.

(Sighs) "I rather not say. It's embarrassing." Natsuki unwillingly stated.

"Please Natsuki." Mai said in a begging voice. She even put on her puppy dog eyes, and Natsuki couldn't resist that. (I really wish she would stop doing that. It makes me feel bad... She gets on my nerves.) (Mentally sticks tongue out at Mai)

"Fine..." Natsuki let out that single word in a long winded sigh.

"YAY!" Mai shouted with glee. Natsuki just rolled her eyes with dissatisfaction.

"Last night I couldn't sleep, I had no choice but to stay up after what happened. It kind of got awkward afterwards."

"What do you mean Natsuki?"

"Oh, I guess I should start from the beginning. Well after I found Nao… we talked, and like the jerk I' am I invited myself to kissing her. I kissed her without her say so, she slapped me." Natsuki sounded ashamed of that. But it didn't stop Mai from letting out a chuckle; Natsuki quickly glanced at her fiercely. Mai waved her hands as a sign that she didn't mean to.

"Well after that, we talked again and of course I apologized for kissing her."

"Why did you kiss her Natsuki?"

"Because… I wanted to." Natsuki said seriously.

"That sounds a bit selfish."

"I know… but can I finish?"

"Yes. Go on."

"So afterwards, she asked me to take her home. Besides that it was snowing. So when we got back to her place she was beating around the bush about asking me up to her apartment. When she finally asked she felt embarrassed but I told her I would love to come up. So I felt out of place in her apartment. When she asked me to sit down. I sat so far away from her I could've just as well been on another continent.  
But anyway, she helped me relax. I got so relaxed that I thought we were going to kiss again… rather I was going to kiss her. She called me on it and I flat out denied it. So I tickled her and I knocked her to the floor, she grabbed a pillow off the couch and hit me. After a little while she kissed me." Mai's eyes widened.

"Nao kissed you?" Natsuki nodded.

"That's… different."

"Tell me about it." Natsuki sighed.

"So continue." Mai said contentedly as she was enjoying Natsuki's story telling.

"Well I did something stupid again. As she was kissing me I was feeling up on her…"

"Natsuki!" Mai shouted out with disappointment in her voice.

"I know! I know! I felt so bad about it. Geez let me finish. So she pushed me off and I apologized but she forgave me from what I could tell, because she kissed me again. But we stopped because we both heard my phone ringing I had no choice but to answer. When I did I heard Shizuru's voice she sounded worried. I had to lie to her; I didn't want to tell her I was with Nao so I said I was staying with you last night. But I could hear in her voice she knew something was up."

"You think she knows?" Mai asked quizzicality, putting her hand against her chin.

"I'm not sure…" Both Mai and Natsuki sat for a few moments thinking, before Natsuki continued telling her tale.

"After I hung up with Shizuru, I talked to Nao a little more. Before I knew it she was telling me to go to bed with her."

"WHAT!" Mai's face turned a very deep shade of red.

"JUST BE QUITE! Listen nothing happened! It's why I'm so tired!"

"Wait, I don't understand. You mean you and Nao didn't do it?"

"Tch! No Mai. We didn't do "It". Nao was just rushing into it because of Shizuru I think. I think she was feeling envious. I'm guessing she wanted to rush so that she didn't feel the need to compete with Shizuru… maybe I'm not sure. I knew though she wasn't ready so… I pushed her off me. After that she laid on her bed… and I ended up on the floor. She was probably doing that to torment me. I stayed awake almost all night that's why I look like this."

"But did you want to do it?" Mai asked suddenly.

"I'm… not sure. I just know Nao wasn't ready. I wasn't going to force her into doing something she wasn't really ready for. Even if I wanted to, I didn't want to take advantage of her like that." Natsuki began to sound angry and a little dishearten.

"Maybe you didn't want to because you felt guilty… about Fujino." Mai spoke cleverly. Mai figured that just like before, that Natsuki has trouble confessing what's really in heart. It's why she could never fully submit to how she feels, especially with Nao.

"Natsuki… I know it's hard for you but, you're going to have to make a decision soon." Natsuki raised her eyebrow at Mai.

"Make a decision about what?"

"About with whom you want to be with and who you're willing to let go of."

"Shut up Mai…" Natsuki hissed at Mai. Mai shook her head and proceed to tell Natsuki what was at stake here and what the future might hold if she doesn't do something about making a choice between the women in her life.

"I know you love Shizuru, you have loved her ever since then. But you said yourself you always loved Nao. I know you are in love with her; my question is are you really in love with Shizuru? And if so, if you always knew you loved Nao more why let yourself fall in love with Fujino?"

"Because I thought mine and Nao's relationship would always be this…"

"How?"

"Almost nonexistent."

"Is that what you want Natsuki?"

"It would be less complicated."

"So are you saying you're choosing Fujino?" Natsuki was feeling frustrated by Mai's constant badgering. She jumped out of her seat and slammed her hands down on the table forcefully.

"I'm saying I'm not choosing anyone right now! I'm saying I need time to figure things out!" Mai got up from her seat at that moment. She walked over and stood by Natsuki's side.

"Well you're going to have to choose soon. It's almost New Year's, and that would be the perfect time to make a new start. A new life perhaps with the person you really love." With those last words Mai walked away. She knew it was the only way to get Natsuki to think seriously this time if she gave her a bit of a time limit. In fact it wasn't even that bad of an idea because Natsuki did have to choose at that point who to spend New Year's with. Natsuki sighed as she heard the bell ringing for the first classes to begin. But instead of heading toward class, she took it upon herself to skip out and go to one of her many hiding spots on the campus grounds.

(Sometimes… I wish I hadn't told Nao I love her…)

Unknowingly to Natsuki and Mai, around the same time as they were having their own conversation, Nao was having one with Mikoto. She had met up with Mikoto soon after both she and Natsuki arrived at school. Nao and Mikoto were sitting down near the chapel enjoying some Yan Yan snacks. That of course Nao bought because Mikoto asked her for them.

"Nao?"

"Yes Mikoto?"

"Are you in love with Natsuki?" Nao chocked on the cookie stick she was eating. Mikoto patted her back with a worried look on her face. Once Nao stopped coughing up a lung, she waved her hand in dismissal to Mikoto to let her know she was alright.

"Well that's… complicated. I know how she feels about me and I know how I feel for her. Maybe now isn't the time for us though."

"But you do love her don't you? I see how you guys have been getting along. And it's cute 'cause I've seen ya blush Nao, but only when Natsuki's around." Nao snatched Mikoto's snack away from her. Mikoto started whining. Nao sighed and gave them back to the spiky headed girl.

"Hey Nao?" Mikoto asked munching away.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Did you and Natsuki make love?"

"SAY WHAT!" Nao's face lit up a bright red.

"You know, did you guys sleep together?"

"Where'd you hear that word from?" Nao asked shockingly.

"You know make love. Like when me and Mai sleep together in the same bed." Mikoto said happily while smiling. Nao shook her head and smiled back at Mikoto.

"You're silly you know. Your "make love" with Mai is very different from the "make love" me and Natsuki would have shared." Nao saw the confused look on Mikoto's innocent face. She patted her on the head.

"You'll understand when you're older."

"Okay Nao, but maybe you can be the one to explain it to me then!"

"Sure I will." Nao pleasantly said. Even though Nao was having an interesting time and conversation with her friend, she soon was snapped out of it when she noticed Natsuki walking their way.

"HIYA NATSUKI!" Mikoto yelled out and waved her hand at her. Natsuki softly waved back as she came closer to the two of them. Natsuki walked over directly toward Nao. Nao rolled her eyes and sighed in disappointment.

"Hey Mikoto, would you mind if I talk to Nao… alone?" Mikoto shook her head. She got up and hugged Nao and Natsuki before leaving. She told them to play nice and that she will see them later she waved as she skipped down the road.

Nao looked up at Natsuki but Natsuki couldn't bring herself to look at Nao. She glanced down on the ground and kicked the dirt with her sneaker a bit. She soon nervously sat down next to Nao.

"Is it alight if I sit down?" Nao shrugged her shoulders.

"You're already sitting."

"Nao… I'm sorry."

"Sorry about what?"

"Nao… you know what about." Natsuki sighed heavily.

"You should've just said you didn't want to do it." Natsuki turned to Nao quickly and grabbed both her hands.

"Nao it wasn't that! I knew you weren't really ready to do anything that. I thought that maybe—

"How do you even know what I did or didn't want to do? Maybe I was ready and maybe I wanted to do that with you last night because… because I love you Natsuki."

"Nao… but, but I thought…" Nao ripped her hands away from Natsuki's and got up from her seat. She stared down at Natsuki furiously.

"You were the one who wasn't ready. That's why you backed out last night, and it was because of her! Natsuki if you love me like you say you do then you should be able to prove it. Otherwise, otherwise we're going to lose this… whatever this or whatever it was we had." Natsuki sat there as she watched Nao walk away. She knew even if she went after Nao that it wouldn't do any good or make a difference, because what she said was true. Just as Mai said before, Natsuki would have felt guilty for going that far with Nao, because of Shizuru.

Natsuki ran her hands over her face. She rubbed the sides of her temples as she could feel a migraine coming on. (They're both right… I guess I have to make a decision and soon. But what should I do... who should I choose?)


	9. For the First Time

_It has been about two weeks now, since Natsuki last spoke with Nao. Although within those weeks Natsuki has tried to do whatever she could to get back into Nao's good graces. She first had suspected that Nao was still cross with her, when she had stop asking for rides home like she did on a daily basics. Always after school Natsuki would wait; but the other thing that told her that Nao was still mad was the icy cold shoulder she would give her. But of course this didn't stop her from trying.  
Today Natsuki thought of trying a different approach toward Nao… even though in Natsuki's mind it seemed like a great idea, to others it would fall on borderline stalker. _

"Hey why don't you let me take you home after school?" Natsuki smiled. Nao rolled her eyes and started to walk away. Natsuki quickly grabbed her arm.

"Please Nao. Besides it's getting really cold. Don't you feel the coldness in the air, it would only be right if I gave you a ride home."

"I could find my own way home thank you very much." Nao said angrily as she tore her arm away from the older girl and started walking away again.

"Nao! Nao!" Natsuki kept shouting across the courtyard to Nao who kept on walking without looking back or saying a word. With eyes glued to the couple; their classmates watched on as the duo continued on with their show of sorts.

"SHUT UP NATSUKI! GO AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Nao finally shouted back at her. But that of course didn't stop the blue haired beauty.

"Nao please listen!"

"No! I don't want to hear it! Just leave me alone!" Nao begun taking up speed, running for the school building she ducked around the corner to hide out of site of her pursuer.

_(_I wish she would give up! I'm never talking to Kuga for as long as I live!)With that thought in mind; Nao peeked behind the edge of the wall and started walking. She didn't get far as she fell back suddenly. She had walked right into something without looking where she was going.

"HEY! Watch where you're—

"Nao I'm sorry."

"YOU! What are you following me now too!" Nao flared as she got herself up from the floor.

"Nao I'm so sorry! Please forgive me. And no I'm not following you… I think you already have your #1 fan." The girl laughed. Her laughter filled the silent corridor but unfortunately Nao didn't find it funny.

"Listen Mai, when you get a chance tell your friend to leave me alone… for good."

"That's what I wanted to talk with you about Nao… don't you think you should be more understanding?"

"Understanding of what?" Nao roared in anger at Mai. Mai saw the icy glare that Nao gave her; it sent a chill down her spine. Her face softened as she took Nao's hand.

"Nao I know it's hard because of everything you and Natsuki have been through together. Also now that you both have confessed your feelings for each other, it makes matters that much difficult. You have to understand it's especially hard on Natsuki… yes she's in love with you and clearly cares and wants to be with you a great deal. But at the same time, there is another person involved unaware of what's going on."

"You mean that woman…" Nao snarled. Even the mere mention of Shizuru's name was enough to leave a bitter taste in her mouth. Mai nodded gently and continued on.

"Yes… so you have to see that Natsuki is trying her best for you at the moment. Yes of course she could be doing a better job, by not following you around like a lost little puppy and not shouting you're name every second would help… but the point is you have to ease up in return. I know you're angry and frustrated, but Natsuki will decide soon I'm positive." Nao groaned and took her hand from Mai's. She lowered her head.

"She won't pick me… I know it. Tokiha I do understand it all. I get the position she is in and I know she loves me but she is also in love with that woman. In my heart I know she will stay with her even though I wish she would really choose me. But because of everything that's happened and with them being with each other for so long… I don't doubt her feelings for me one bit. But if I don't do this now, act this way with her… then my heart breaking would hurt less." Nao put both her hands up covering her face to hide the tears that began to slip out.

"Nao… I don't know what to say…" Mai reached out for Nao, but she back up and wiped her eyes.

"There's nothing to say… I'm not naïve you know."

"I didn't say you were. I am surprised however that you did understand all this."

"Just because I'm younger than you doesn't mean I don't understand things. Don't treat me like a child! I know very well about everything! But if I seriously knew then what I know now then maybe me and Natsuki would have had a chance! But not anymore… it's too late. I may have been the one in her heart… her important person, and maybe I still am… but it doesn't matter. What's done is done. And because I was selfish and didn't allow anyone to get close to me this is the outcome." Nao backed up and turned away with her back facing Mai.

"Nao you still don't know what could happen. Nothing is easy; especially when it comes to the person you love most. You have to make scarifies and sometimes you get the answer you didn't want but you have to accept it and move on. But you don't know Natsuki. She could—

"I know enough! And I know I was stupid enough to fall for that idiot!" With that last said Nao ran off holding her tears back once again. Mai had tried calling out to Nao but it was no use. Seeming defeated Mai walked off back outside, while all along unknowingly to Mai or Nao; Natsuki was listing the whole time.

(Nao… I wish things were different too. I'm sorry I never was there for you like I wanted to be)

Throughout the rest of the day, Natsuki avoided Nao as Nao had avoided her. She quietly went through the day without saying a word to anyone and attending all of her classes for once. Once school was over Natsuki made her way to her bike like she always did, but she was surprised to find someone there waiting for her.

Natsuki didn't say a word, she was barely breathing for that matter. All that happened was a wide smiled was placed on her face. Standing there by her bike was Nao. Nao was holding herself up against the motorcycle; she had seemed to be waiting there awhile as she shook slightly from the chill in the air.

Natsuki took off her jacket and slowly approached the fiery red-head. She got up very close to Nao with very little space left between them. She placed the jacket around Nao's slender frame. Nao let out a tiny gasp. Nao was shocked by Natsuki sudden presence; she was too focused on keeping warm she hadn't noticed Natsuki snuck up on her.  
Nao gazed into Natsuki's deep emerald green eyes. She felt lost in them, for she hadn't looked into her eyes for what seemed like forever. Natsuki placed her hands on Nao's shoulders, rubbing them softly. She then placed her arms around Nao embracing her tightly.

"_I missed you…"_ Natsuki whispered in Nao's ear. The warmth of Natsuki's breath, made Nao's cheeks flare up. Nao pushed Natsuki away from her, looking down so that she wouldn't be able to see that she was still blushing. Natsuki placed her hands on either side of Nao's face. Nao looked up at Natsuki once again.

"I know how you feel and I understand why you haven't been speaking to me. All I can ask for is for you to not give up on me." Natsuki spoke with a pleading voice. Nao placed her hands over Natsuki's and slowly removed them from her face.

"Kuga… I can't. I just can't anymore. That's why I've been acting this way with you. I wanted you to stop loving me because I know in the end you would still go back to her."

"That isn't true!"

"Yes it is… because even now, even after you take me home you have to go back to her. It's as if you really don't have a choice. And I don't want to say you're stuck, but I feel that ever since that night you have been. And it's my fault."

"You would stop saying that! Nothing that has happened till now is your fault! None of it, when will you see that? I have to choose everyday and every day I choose to be with you, I choose to wait for you I choose to do this…" Suddenly she leant down capturing Nao's unsuspecting lips.

Nao's eyes widened but soon closed them. As she did she melted into the kiss, it was more intense and felt more passionate than it had been before. Nao gripped onto Natsuki's shirt as their kiss deepened and her body began to tingle with pleasure. Before long they both pulled away from each other gasping for air. They smiled at each other for a few moments, then without saying a word Nao got onto the bike and patted the sit with her hand, signaling for Natsuki to get on.

Natsuki smiled and hopped on her bike. She placed on her helmet as did Nao. Nao wrapped her arms tightly around Natsuki's waist and laid her head on the side of Natsuki's back. She started the motorcycle, revved the engine a few times and sped off. Nao seemed to hold on tighter to Natsuki with each passing second, as if she never wanted to let her go ever again. But a thought over shadowed her. She knew soon enough would have to let go of her… maybe forever.

As they were nearing Nao's home Natsuki slowed down her bike. They both got off the bike and took off their helmets. They both seemed shy as they kept glancing back and forth at each other.

"I wish we could go back to that park. It was nice there that night." Nao spoke suddenly. Natsuki smiled back at her.

"Well once winter is over I promise to take you there again. I want to visit that park again too. Because it's the same night I told you I loved you." Natsuki stepped up closer to Nao and held her hands.

"I love you Nao. And I— Natsuki was cut off by the ringing of her cell phone. Natsuki slapped her hand to her forehead and groaned. Nao rolled her eyes and kicked at the ground a little. Natsuki reached into her pocket to get her cell.

"Hello?"

"_Natsuki."_

"Hey Shizuru. What's up?"

"_Is everything okay? Are you okay?"_

"Yeah. Why do you ask?" Natsuki asked with a hint of confusion. She hadn't a clue what Shizuru could be talking about.

"_Well, I wish to talk to you about something. I don't want to do this over the phone… when will you be home?"_

Natsuki looked over in Nao's direction. She felt sad as to the fact she may have to leave she lover so quickly, just as things were going smoothly between them again. Natsuki sighed heavily into the phone.

"I'll try and be home as soon as I can. Okay?"

"_Okay… I love you Natsuki." _ Natsuki felt even worse at that moment, as she could hear the sadness in Shizuru's voice. Now she knew for sure something was really bothering her.

"I love you too. Goodbye." As soon as Natsuki hung up the phone she saw the look in Nao's face. Natsuki felt herself being put in a very awkward position like she had been in so many times. She felt torn she wanted to stay but she also had to go.

"Well what are you waiting for?" Nao abruptly blurted out.

"What are you saying? I'm not waiting for anything." Nao crossed her arms and glared at Natsuki.

"You know what I'm saying. You're going to leave now just like you always have to do. You're always running to her!"

"I'm not running anywhere!" Natsuki shouted back. She clenched her fists. She didn't want to admit to herself that what Nao was saying was true. At the same time she didn't want to leave though, she wanted to prove Nao wrong.

"Nao I'm not going anywhere. If I did and wanted too I would have been gone already. I'm still here I'm here because I want to be and I want to… I want to…" Nao raised an eyebrow, looking at her curiously.

"What's the matter Kuga? Cat got you're tongue?" Natsuki shook her head.

"No… I was trying to stop myself from saying…"

"Saying what? Spit it out already! You're really annoying me!"

"I'm sorry… I just…" Instead of trying to finish what she wanted to say, Natsuki walked up to Nao and held her close kissing her once again. Nao didn't fight back she very much welcomed the impulsive kiss. She was in fact quite taken by Natsuki's forwardness. The kissing was halted for a moment as Natsuki pulled back.

"I was wondering if I could... stay with you for awhile…" Natsuki began to blush. Nao giggled at Natsuki.

"You're very cute when you get embarrassed."

"SHUT UP!"

"HAHAHAHA! Sure you can come upstairs with me." Nao said through her laughter.

Nao smiled at Natsuki who was still blushing. She took her hand and led her up to her apartment, she unlocked the door. Nao walked still holding onto Natsuki's hand. Once inside they took off their shoes by the door and entered into the living room. Natsuki grabbed Nao by her waist pulling her into another intense lip lock. Natsuki began to push Nao backwards until they both tumbling onto the couch.  
Nao moved her head so that she could catch her breath, but that didn't stop Natsuki from attaching her lips onto Nao's neck.

"Natsuki… what are you doing…" Nao peacefully moaned. Natsuki halted her assault and looked at her lover with desire in her eyes.

"Please, forgive me."

"For what?"

"For what I'm doing…"

"Natsuki…" Nao felt Natsuki place her hand on her breast. Her heart started to beat fast and her breathing became labored.

"I want to do this with you. I'm sorry I was holding back before. It wasn't you… it was me. I'm ready now and I want to do this with you if you still want me." Nao placed her hands on the back of Natsuki's neck pulling her closer.

"You're such an idiot…" Nao kissed Natsuki forcefully. Both their hearts were beating rapidly at the excitement of what they were about to do, exploring each other's bodies for the first time.


	10. To Overcome

"NATSUKI! Your face!" Mai suddenly blurted out. She was completely shocked at the sight of her friend.

"I know." Natsuki said bluntly as she pointed to her face.

"Zombie face returns, right? It's a long story again."

"Well I'd love to hear it. This one had to be good, better than the last time. I swear Natsuki Kuga I don't know what you're thinking sometimes." Mai frowned as she crossed her arms and heavily sighed with disappointment. Natsuki furrowed her eyebrows and grinded her teeth.

"Well everything seemed to be going fine, that is until we got into the more "hands on approach".

"Oh, I see." Mai said in a sarcastic way.

"JUST LISTEN! But as soon as we started… it took a turn for the worse." Natsuki had begun to explain as to what happened last night between herself and Nao. As Natsuki was telling her story, Mai's face seemed to twist in anguish and disbelief. While listening to her blue-haired friend, Mai began to make boorish sounds; which went well with all the faces she was making. Apparently the way Natsuki was describing what had happened seem to make Mai squirm; in fact it was making her very uncomfortable. Natsuki had looked up for a second when pausing in her story, she happened to take noticed of Mai's unpleasant face.

"What the HELL Mai?" Natsuki yelled out. Mai quickly waved her hands.

"NO NO NO! Natsuki, it's not what you think… honestly. Just the way you're telling me this sounds like you were more in a grudge match than trying to be intimate with someone. I wonder… how does that work between you and Fujino?" Mai questioned as she placed her finger on her chin.

"Shut up! The only reason it sounds that way is because in a way that's what happened. Instead of us trying to be… intimate, we kept fighting each other on what to do. Every time I was trying to do something, Nao did something completely different and we ending up doing that all night. It was really horrible."

"Hmmm." Mai suddenly uttered.

"What is it?"

"Well I think you two don't need to do that at the moment. Besides that the way you do it with Fujino would be different from how you would do it with Nao. The thing is you're both rushing, and you Natsuki I think from what I could tell, is that you were trying the same moves on Nao as you do with Shizuru. And also you guys aren't used to each other's bodies yet; you need to experiment with each other more before you both go any further." Mai spoke to Natsuki in a knowledgeable manner. While she explained Natsuki began to understand what went wrong.

"I think I get it now." Natsuki smiled at her friend.

"Listen Natsuki…"

"Yes?"

"Like I said, it's not important now. Knowing how she feels about you and how you feel about her is enough. Get to know each other better; you have the time now because we are no longer fighting one another."

"I know Mai. Thanks. I really do understand what it is I need to do." Natsuki stated but then let out a tiny sigh.

"I'm going to have to make a decision still. It's not fair to either Shizuru or Nao, and I can't lead anyone on. I know who it is I want… and who I want to give my life for." Mai crossed her arms and stared at her friend. She was wondering of whom Natsuki was speaking of, but she didn't want to pry.

"Well good luck Natsuki, I hope it works out for you and I'm very proud of you. You're finally growing up and making grown up choices and—

"Yeah yeah. Shut up Mai. You're embarrassing me." Mai laughed loudly. She walked over to Natsuki and patted her on the back.

"Relax. You know I can't resist teasing you!" (She's no better than Nao… or Shizuru for that matter. Why do I even bother telling her anything?) Natsuki thought to herself as Mai began to give Natsuki a few light friendly punches to the arm.

"You know what?" Mai said through her laughter.

"What?" Natsuki replied, while rubbing her arm.

"I think you already know who is it you want to be with. It's true someone's heart may get broken but in time that will heal. You need to look forward to your own happiness Natsuki." Mai stated very happily. She tilted her head to the side, noticing Natsuki was looking at her oddly.

"What's up?"

"Nothing at all. I was just thinking how smart you are about relationships." Natsuki said with a smirk.

"Thanks!"

"Makes me wonder, how many relationships you've had that have crashed and burned in order for you to know so much?" Natsuki playfully replied. Mai made a fist and walked up to Natsuki, she struck her the side of her head.

"OWWWWWW! WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR!"

"SEVERS YOU RIGHT! HOW DARE YOU? AND BESIDES THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! SHOULDN'T YOU BE LOOKING FOR NAO!"

"AHHHH! YOU'RE TOTALLY RIGHT! THANKS FOR REMINDING ME! BYE MAI!" Natsuki shouted back at her red-headed friend as she ran off in a flash. Mai was a bit stunned but quickly brushed it off and chuckled to herself. (Natsuki can be really silly sometimes. Well I'd better get to class; I don't want to start catching Natsuki's bad habit)

Natsuki ran and ran, so fast that she was barely able to catch her breath. She became so winded that she finally slowed down to a stop. She lent up against a near-by tree to catch her breath. The cold in the air didn't help matters much; Natsuki felt a chill run up her body then. She walked around to the other side of the tree. As she walked she felt her foot get caught on something, but before she could react she had already fallen to the ground.  
Natsuki quickly looked back to see what she had tripped over but before she can say or do anything, something very heavy had once again struck her on the head.

"DAMMIT KUGA! ARE YOU THAT CLUMSY!"

"NAO!"

"Well who else! How could you trip over a person like that you idiot!"

"GRRR! HOW CAN YOU JUST RANDOMLY STRIKE PEOPLE IN THE HEAD LIKE THAT!"

"KEEP TALKING! AND YOU'LL SEE HOW!" They both bickered back and forth for a while before the two finally calmed downed. Nao lent Natsuki a hand to help her up off the ground. Natsuki brushed herself off. Nao sat back down by the tree, Natsuki soon did the same shortly after.  
From raising their voices a few moments ago they quickly went silent. Neither one said a thing; Natsuki glanced over at Nao a few times before clearing her throat, ready to say something.

"Nao…"

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry… about last night again. It's my fault." Nao shook her head, turning toward Natsuki.

"No it wasn't you. Well maybe it was most of you but, it was me too. We keep thinking we know what we want to do and how we should do it but it just ends up like this. And then we either stay up all night or just awkwardly stare at each other and I hate that so much Natsuki." Natsuki could hear the sadness in Nao's voice. She moved closer to her and put her arms around her to comfort her.

"Natsuki…" Nao hushed. Her cheeks turned a light shade of red. Natsuki held Nao close to her and rested her chin on her head.

"We don't have to do those things yet. We just keep rushing into it without knowing for sure what to do. I feel that I rush into it with you because… if I don't then I might lose you…" Nao placed her hand softly in the middle of Natsuki's chest.

"You're an idiot."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you are. You think I'm that type of person, that if you don't sleep with me I'll get rid of you."

"No. That's not what I meant. I meant that you would hate me if I didn't do it. I thought that you would stop loving me." Natsuki spoke as Nao gripped onto her shirt. Natsuki felt her heart skip a beat as Nao did that.

"I could never do that. I will always love you even if we never did those things."

"Then why do you seem like you want to do it always?" Natsuki asked bluntly.

"I thought if I didn't try then you would go back to her. And I know I'm not experienced and I know you and that woman have done it before… I figured if I gave myself to you then you would want me. You would want to be with me… Natsuki. And it just made me so angry knowing that she gets to hold and touch you in that way and I can't, because I'm afraid or shy. I wish I could—

"That's enough Nao."

"Natsuki…" Natsuki cut off Nao because everything she was saying was starting to take a toll on her. She didn't want to be sad in front of the girl she loved, so instead she gazed into Nao's green eyes and kissed her softly on her lips. Natsuki's pulled back after a few seconds and retuned her gaze into Nao's eyes.

"Listen you don't ever have to prove anything to me or feel that you have to compete with Shizuru. This is about me and you nobody else. And if and when we are ready to do that kind of thing we will be ready, and we will know when the time is right. We shouldn't complicate our relationship with this stuff… I'll admit though Shizuru and I have done it a few times…" Natsuki said very unpleasantly. As she said that Nao tightened up her grip on Natsuki's shirt even more.

"At that time I didn't understand why she would want to do it. Then she explained it was her way of showing and expressing her love for me even more. Sometimes I didn't even want to do it; I didn't even like it that much. I only did it because I didn't want to disappoint her or make her sad. I guess you can say I was protecting her."

"I think you were trying to make up for what happened during the Festival." Nao suddenly stated.

"You always blamed yourself for what that psycho did to you that night. But it wasn't your fault Kuga! And you know if it wasn't for me then you—

"SHUT UP! I keep telling you! What happened to me wasn't your fault! Stop blaming yourself! What happened to me that night with Shizuru only happened because of her feelings for me! She held it back so long and that was her opportunity to finally let go and do something about it!" Natsuki shouted angrily at Nao, Nao then pushed herself away from Natsuki and out of her arms. They again sat there in silence, but for a very long time. The coldness in the air got even colder and it began to snow at once.

Natsuki took note of the way Nao was holding herself; she knew she was feeling cold. She took off her jacket and placed it around Nao. Nao looked back only to see Natsuki getting up from the ground and start to walk away. She called out to her.

"KUGA! ARE YOU JUST GOINGTO LEAVE ME HERE! IS THIS HOW YOU'RE GOINGTO TREAT ME?"

"I THOUGHT I WOULD GIVE YOU SOME SPACE!" Natsuki shouted back. Nao grumbled and got up from the ground. She stomped over to Natsuki and wacked her on the head again.

"OWW! WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM! AND WHERE THE HELL DO YOU KEEP GETTING ALL THESE BOOKS FROM?" Nao shook her head.

"That's for you to figure out. Anyways it's snowing so take me home. I don't wanna get sick you know." Natsuki growled but quickly agreed to Nao's demands. She couldn't help but say yes to the younger girl, a smiled soon graced Natsuki's face as did Nao's.  
They both began to walk over to where Natsuki usually parked her bike. As the couple walked along the path, Natsuki had suddenly grabbed a hold of Nao's hand and held in firmly in her own. Nao was taken aback by this impulsive move made by the blue-haired beauty. Nao simply smiled and held her hand firmly within Natsuki's.

"So, are you doing anything for New Year's?" Natsuki asked.

"No. Why do you ask?" Nao asked suspiciously.

"Would you like to spend New Year's with me?" Natsuki abruptly asked as she started to blush. Nao smiled.

"I would love too!" She said with glee. Nao was very excited at the moment but soon something hit her. She didn't want to bring it up to Natsuki but she knew this wasn't a good idea.

(How can Kuga spend New Year's with me when she's sure to be with Fujino? I know there is no way we can be together… so why is she even suggesting it? I wonder if Kuga really is an idiot, or maybe I should stop smacking her in the head with books)

They finally made it to the motorcycle. Once there Nao got on first and placed her helmet on. Natsuki got on soon after and did the same. As she started up the bike Nao wrapped her arms around Natsuki's waist, as Natsuki revved her engine a thought crossed her mind as well.

(Oh no! I completely forgot about Shizuru! What the hell was I thinking! How am I supposed to spend New Year's with both of them! Oh man I'm such an idiot. Mai was right; I should really start listening to her… DAMMIT!) As Natsuki questioned her absent-mindedness on the situation she had just gotten herself into, she sped off with Nao at a blinding speed.


	11. Close At Hand

_Natsuki lied in her bed, she hadn't gotten to sleep and stayed up the whole night. She had a lot on her mind since New Years was today, and she still hadn't made up her mind of who she wanted to be with. In her heart she knew who she wanted to be with but she also knew it would end up hurting the other person. It was a difficult choice but at this point she had no more time to decide.  
She didn't want to leave the person she loved most but she also didn't want to hurt the person she cared for so much. Soon the Ice Princess rolled out of bed and went to take a shower and then got dressed. She made her way into the living room surprised to see Shizuru there._

"Shizuru?" Natsuki's voice crackled.

"Good morning sleepy head. I didn't want to wake you so I waited for you to get up." Shizuru said while smiling greatly at Natsuki.

"What time is it?" Natsuki quickly looked at the clock that sat on her dresser in the living room. She groaned.

"Oh man! I'm gonna be late!" Natsuki rushed passed Shizuru and went straight to the door. She put on her shoes and grabbed up her bag, but before she could head out the door Shizuru called out to her.

"Natsuki wait! Please don't go!"

"But I'm going to be late! I've been trying not to be. I don't wanna get left behind you know." Shizuru nodded.

"I know but this will only take a minute. I wish to speak with you Natsuki… it feels like forever since I last had real conversation with you. And you got home pretty late last night I didn't want to bother you." Natsuki sighed heavily. She placed her bag back down by the door and walked back over to where Shizuru was sitting. Natsuki stared at the older woman waiting for her to say something, but she seemed to avert Natsuki's eyes.

"Shizuru please say something." Natsuki spoke in a harsh tone. It seems her patients where running thin.

"I just wanted to know… if there isn't anything going on."

"What do you mean?"

"Natsuki… I feel that I barely see you anymore. And I could feel you drifting further away from me. Do I not make you… happy?" Natsuki saw the hurt look in Shizuru's face. She couldn't bring herself to tell her the truth about herself and Nao.

"Of course you make me happy… I've just been busy with school and spending a little more time with Mai and Mikoto." Natsuki answered with a weak smile. Shizuru looked up at her with a tear in her eye. Natsuki noticed and it began to thug at her heart strings.

"You're not a very good liar Natsuki. I know that isn't the truth… I could tell. Besides, every time I would call you, you would sound so irritated and would want to get off the phone so quickly. As if the sound of my voice was making you angry. I figured it could only mean one thing…"

(Has she really figured it out? Does she know about me and Nao? I should just tell her the truth… I know it will hurt her but it will hurt her more if I hide it)

"There is someone else isn't there?" Shizuru spoke very softly, trying to hold her tears in.

"You've seen that I've been distant with you. I only stepped back from you because I thought I was doing the right thing. I figured if I stayed away from you then you wouldn't get hurt, but I was wrong. I should have just told you from the start."

"What is it that you have to tell me Natsuki?" Shizuru replied while wiping away a few tears that have escaped. Natsuki gritted her teeth and tighten her fist.

"Shizuru… I love you. I started to really love you after everything that has happened, but I never could find myself to love you more than this. I still can't love you the way you love me… and I realized it because all this time I've been in love with someone else. I never knew until a while ago. I should tell you everything so that you understand. It started when we were still HiME's.

Natsuki sat there and explained everything that has happened between then and now. She explained that even before the battles had started she had always had her eye on Nao; and not just because she suspected Nao of being a HiME as well. She even told Shizuru that what happened that night wasn't her fault either. That if it wasn't for what happened she still would have been hiding her feelings. There wasn't a thing Natsuki left out she even told Shizuru how her and Nao have been seeing each other. That they did start off as friends but soon became more and that they both realized how they felt for each other.

As Natsuki talked she saw that Shizuru understood everything that was being told to her. But she also wondered if the older woman would even accept all this, that she would she even allow herself to let Natsuki go.

"That's why… for the past few days I've been keeping my distance from you and Nao. Although I'll admit it was hard to stay away from Nao after everything. But I need my space and time to make a decision of who I want to really be with. I love you Shizuru. You're my best friend you always have been and I'll always be grateful to you and flattered for how you feel about me. But I also love Nao and I always have." Shizuru looked at Natsuki oddly at that moment. Then she shook her head.

"I don't understand one thing though."

"What's that?"

"If you… loved Nao so much… back then, then why didn't you claim her as your most important person?" Natsuki looked away from Shizuru but smirked.

"She was. She still is. That day on the roof when I was protecting her… it was because she was the person most important to me. That's why I put myself between her and you knowing you wouldn't strike me down because of your feelings for me. But if you had destroyed Duran then Nao would have disappeared. I had to force myself to change my feelings for you. Even though later I did start loving you. But at that time Nao was the only one in my heart." Shizuru felt her heart breaking in two. Even so she smiled weakly at the girl she loved and placed her hand over hers.

"Natsuki… I understand. I won't stop you from doing what you have to do. And I'll always be here for you if you need me."

"Thanks Shizuru." Natsuki replied smiling back. She then got up and headed for the door once again. She scooped up her bag and opened the door walking out. (I still don't know what to do. Shizuru looked so sad… but I had no choice but to tell her. I should go) The day seemed to go by very quickly, before Natsuki knew it she only has about 7 hours to decide. Though that time went quickly as well, she didn't want to talk or run into anyone so she made it to her bike without anyone noticing her. She hopped on and sped off.

(GRRRR! I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO! And I only have a few minutes left! Come on Natsuki! Come on! You know who you really want… you know what the right thing is. I know I'm going to end up hurting her but I shouldn't have to sacrifice my own happiness. Right?) Speeding through the streets, she's surprised she didn't get pulled over. She finally made it to her destination with only 5 minutes left.

She jumped off her bike and ran up the stairs, her heart pounding. It was beating so fast it felt like her heart was going to explode. Her body began to shake knowing what she was about to do, she was scared, nervous, anxious. Natsuki came to the door taking a deep breath in as she knocked on the door. Natsuki could hear her voice from behind the door shouting "I'm coming!" The door opened up slowly.

"Natsuki…?"

"I… um… I came here to say…" Natsuki stood there frozen not knowing what to do or say. (I know this is the right thing to do. I have to do this…)


	12. A New Start

_Another day fell upon Fuuka Academy; winter was drawing to an end as spring was soon to settle in. It had already been two months since that faithful night that Natsuki made her choice. And once again the Ice Princess was lazing about underneath a shady tree enjoying the warmth of the sunlight shinning through the puffy clouds in the sky. But her peaceful bliss was soon to be interrupted by a certain someone._

"OOOWWWWW!" WHAT THE HELL!" Natsuki shouted in pain while holding the back of her head. A tiny tear ran down her cheek that had escaped her tightly shut eyelid.

"Mmhmm. That's what you get for laying about and having that stupid look on your face."

"What stupid face! I was lying here minding my own business!" Natsuki, still holding one hand on the back of her head got up from the shady tree spot. She held one hand against the tree to keep her balance.

"You… are… going… to… kill… me." (Points to herself)

"Get over it Kuga. Trust me if I wanted you dead, you'd be dead. You're too stubborn to die plus you have the thickest skull ever known to man." She smirked and then gave Natsuki a kiss on her forehead.

"There. Feel better?" Natsuki grumbled and shook her head. She knelt down to pick up her bag, but the other girl grabbed it first. She hopped back a few steps waving Natsuki's bag around.

"Come on slowpoke!" She playfully said with a very big smile on her face. Natsuki (still in pain) couldn't help but to smile back. She felt so happy more so than she's had in months.

_Two months ago, New Year's Eve night…_

"_Natsuki…"_

"_I … um… I wanted to say…" Natsuki choked on her words she couldn't get them out. She felt a rush of anguish course through her body. But she tensed up and tightened her fists. _

"_I need to tell you something… before I go… I—_

"_I know Natsuki. That's why you're here, to say… goodbye." _

"_Shizuru…" Natsuki uttered her name softly; there was a hint of sadness behind it. Shizuru smiled though reassuring the blue-haired beauty that everything would be fine._

"_Natsuki you shouldn't be here though. It's almost midnight." Natsuki shook her head._

"_I know! I have like 3 minutes left! But I had to come and tell you first Shizuru I had to! I couldn't just leave things the way they were, it wouldn't be right or fair, especially not to you. After everything you've done for me… always being there for me, protecting me, being my guarding angel in a way." Shizuru was moved by Natsuki's words as they rung truth. A few tears came cascading down her rose colored cheeks._

"_You were the only friend I had… even though I pushed you away you still wanted to be by my side. And I thank you for that Shizuru; it means so much to me more than you will ever know. It's also one of the reasons why I did fall for you… but even though I do love you and cherish you as my best friend…" Natsuki trailed off as she stepped away from the door. She glanced up at Shizuru before continuing on._

"_No matter how many times it comes down to it… I love her more than anything in this world. SHE is my important person." A very big and bright smile was placed on Natsuki's lips. With those last words to Shizuru she ran off to hurry to make it to Nao._

"_Good luck… I hope you make it…" Shizuru whispered to herself wiping away her tears. Although she felt heartbroken in that moment she also felt content. She was losing Natsuki's love, but she still had her friendship and that's all she could ask for. _

"_OH MAN! HURRY, HURRY, HURRY! I'M SUCH AN IDIOT!" Natsuki revved her motorcycled racing blinding through the traffic in order to make it in time to see Nao. She only had a few seconds left at this point. Natsuki quickly halted her bike before smashing into another vehicle. She slammed her fists down on the handle bars of the bike; she hopped off leaving her bike in the middle of the traffic stand still by running through the streets to make it in time. _

_Nao stood in the town center near the clock tower, where she has been waiting for Natsuki for almost an hour. She was getting rather cold and looking up at the clock every second wasn't helping matters. _

"_She's… not coming… I'm such a fool." Nao sadly said to herself. She held herself rubbing her arms trying to keep warm, she heard the other people around her starting to count down to the New Year._

"_10!"_

"_9!"_

"_8!"_

"_I hate you Natsuki…" Nao began to walk away._

"_7!"_

"_6!"_

"_NO! COME ON I'M ALMOST THERE!" _

"_5!"_

"_4!"_

"_NAO! WAIT FOR ME PLEASE!"_

"_3!"_

"_NAO!" Nao stopped before getting any further away from the clock tower. Even through the crowds loud shouting she could hear Natsuki calling out her name over them._

"_2!"_

"_1!"_

"_HAPPY NEW YEAR!"_

"_Natsuki!"_

"_Nao! Nao where are you?" Nao begun running back to where she was standing, pushing her way through the people, little did she know on the other side of that crowd Natsuki was waiting. (I'm stupid… or I'm crazy but I swore I heard her)_

"_Nao! I'm here! I'm here… I'm too late… she probably figured I wouldn't show… DAMMIT!" As Natsuki cursed herself, she felt something tugging at her from behind. She couldn't even turn around as two arms were placed around her._

"_You're always late… Kuga." Nao whispered into Natsuki's ear, she held her tighter and placed her head on Natsuki's shoulder. _

"_Nao… I'm sorry I'm late… I was trying so hard to get here. But I had to tell Shizuru I thought I had enough time—_

"_Shut up Natsuki. All that matters is that you're here. I heard you call my name…" She smiled and let go of Natsuki. Natsuki turned around to face her, seeing that smile on Nao's face made her heart beat fast._

"…_I came running back. I heard you so I knew you were here. You came for me… you chose me." Natsuki placed her hands on either side of Nao's face. She smiled at her and shook her head._

"_I didn't have to choose, it was always you Nao."_

"_Natsuki…" _

"_Happy New Year." Natsuki said before giving Nao a kiss on her soft lips. Nao returned the kiss and held back onto Natsuki. _

"You know Nao you really need to stop hitting me though. I could get a concussion."

"Natsuki, please. You're a daredevil nothing could hurt you… besides you've fallen off of buildings and whatnot and you're still standing." Nao stated in a sarcastic way.

"Maybe… I made the wrong choice…" Natsuki replied while still rubbing her head. Nao glanced back at her with an icy stare.

"What was that?"

"Heh heh nothing." Natsuki weakly smiled and then let out a sigh of relief. (I shouldn't have said that but it was priceless to see that look on her face) Natsuki walked up over to Nao who was pouting a bit, and placed her hands on her waist.

"Kuga, what are you doing?"

"I wanted to hold onto you."

"Why?"

"Just in case I pass out, I wanna be able to hang onto you." They both chuckled. Nao placed her arms around Natsuki's neck and kissed her. They kept on kissing before they heard the school bell ring. They both groaned in unison, Natsuki rested her forehead on Nao's.

"Did you notice every time we're in the middle of something a ringing of some sort happens to interrupt us?"

"Well we can just make it up for later…" Nao said in a sultry tone. She gave Natsuki one more kiss before slipping out from under her arms and running down the dirt path.

"HURRY UP OR YOU'LL BE LATE!" Nao shouted back who snatched Natsuki's bag once again. Natsuki smiled and began to run after the fiery red-head.  
(In a way things went back to normal. Nao and I are still the same, but I'm glad our relationship didn't change us too much and I'm even more grateful that Shizuru has come to terms with mine and Nao's relationship. I guess everything worked out alright in the end. Even if things didn't turn out the way they had, at the end of it I still would have been with the person I love most)

"HEY NAO WAIT FOR ME!" Natsuki shouted back at her lover. (BUT WHERE THE HELL DOES SHE KEEP GETTING ALL THOSE DAMN HEAVY BOOKS!)

The End~


End file.
